Matthew 7, and I'll begin reading at verse 15. "'Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. And every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye
shall know them. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity." I've come to this text this morning, I guess by
what you would say, was the long way around. I've had it on my
mind since the beginning of the week, but to be quite honest
with you, I did my best to avoid it. I did my best to reason and
to use logic as to why maybe on this particular day another
text would be more suitable and more fitting. I did it to the
extent of preparing an entirely separate message. but finding
myself at the last minute absolutely unable to preach it. I come to
this text for a reason that is known to God Himself. And I come to a text like this
where we find warnings against error, against false prophets,
things such as this, and I come to them with fear, because I
know that a person can know a lot of things that are wrong and
not know still the truth. They can be able to explain why
this is not right, or that is not right, or why this is false,
what have you, and still in themselves have no love of the truth. They can point out many false
prophets, And yet, at the same time, still not know the One
who is described as the Prophet, or that Prophet, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But turn over, if you would,
to 2 Timothy. Hold your place and turn over
to 2 Timothy. And listen in 2 Timothy and that
4th chapter to the words of the Apostle. You remember he's writing
to this young preacher, Timothy. And he begins in verse 1, he
says, "...I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing
and kingdom, preach the word." Be instant in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."
That's that dirty word of modern religion, doctrine. And his charge is for this to
be done, he says, for the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine. They won't be able to stand it. They won't be able to hear it.
They won't have any desire to know it or understand it. But after their own lust, shall
they heap to themselves teachers." Oh, they're going to be taught.
But it will not be by those who, like Timothy and Paul, are charged
of God to preach sound doctrine. No, he says, they shall heap
to themselves teachers having itching ears. Somebody that will
tell them exactly what they want to hear. And he says, "...and
they shall turn away their ears from the truth." They'll turn
away their ears from the truth and they shall be turned unto
fables, false stories, man-made fairy tales. He says, but watch
thou in all things, endure afflictions. Obviously there is some resistance
and some affliction, such as Paul being in prison for preaching
it. He says, endure afflictions and
do the work of an evangelist. Now, what in the world is an
evangelist? And what is it to evangelize? Well, that word is the word from
which we also get this word transliterated, and that is to eulogize. Do the work of this one who's
called of God to eulogize. So, what is it to eulogize God? To eulogize God is to say to
men what God has said about Himself. It's to speak high things about
God. When somebody stands up in the
death of another to give the eulogy, They try in most cases,
I believe, to say the best things that can be said about that deceased
person. Well, the gospel preacher is
to eulogize God and to say the things that are true of God,
of whom there can be no bad things said. speak high things of God,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
And so that's what Paul is saying here to Timothy and those who
would read that later, but who's speaking the words here in Matthew
7? And I say that because it would
be almost in the minds of most in our day that this sweet little
loving Jesus, He would never have anything to say such as
preachers as myself might say. They say, you sound hard, preacher. Don't you have anything good
to say about us, positive to say about us? But this is the
love of God epitomized in this person, Jesus Christ, and it
is He who in that love, and as the one who is the truth Himself,
He's the one giving this warning. He says, beware. And let me tell
you something. Only the people of God, only
the true people of God will heed this warning. Only those who
are enabled to see by God-given faith, to understand by the Spirit's
teaching, they're the only ones who are going to heed this warning. And he says, beware. Beware. Beware of false prophets." In
other words, the Son of God Himself is warning His people especially
of these false prophets and false teachers that He knew would be
found everywhere in every age. Turn over to 2 Peter. 2 Peter and the second chapter,
listen to what the Apostle Peter says here in 2 Peter, and that
second chapter, After he says that those men of God, prophets,
true prophets in past days, he said, they spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. But here in chapter 2 in the
next statement, that first verse, he says, but there were false
prophets also among the people. Even in the days of all the prophets
like Isaiah and Jeremiah and all these other ones such as
Micaiah and others, he said, even in those days, there were
even at that time false prophets also among the people. And notice this next phrase,
"...even as there shall be false teachers among you." In other
words, not everybody that stands under that broad umbrella of
Christianity, or even grace, or that uses all the terms that
men associate there. He said, "...even there shall
be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction." And here's the sad thing, "...and
many, shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of." Both they and their converts
are not simply satisfied to believe what they want to believe, but
they at the same time, they speak evil of. The way of truth. The way of
truth. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words, that word feigned in the original
is the word that we get the word plastic from. Can you believe
that? molded, fashioned, deceitful
words, spoken articulately and precisely and pleasantly with
feigned words, they make merchandise of you, They're doing it for
a reason, and that reason is their own gain, whether it be
one thing or another, mostly glory, whose judgment now of
a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. It's coming. It's sure. But until such an hour as God
brings it to pass, here they are with their feigned words
for their own gain, making merchandise of the souls of men." I remember
reading or hearing about one popular evangelist, In a day
past, who had this thing down to this size, he had it mathematically
figured out that whatever you sin, it was so much per soul
that he'd reach and they'd be saved. If you want ten souls
saved, send ten dollars. Twenty souls, send twenty dollars.
That's it. And here is this problem, this
warning that we receive from Scripture, such as we do from
John the Apostle in 2 John. He said, many deceivers are entered
into the world. Deceivers. I tell you, I don't
want to be deceived. But even more than that, I don't
want to be a deceiver. He said, even in his day, there
were already many antichrists going out. You see, the world
in our day has everybody looking for the antichrist. No, he said,
antichrist plural. And then he goes on to say that
they are antichrists who do not have the doctrine of Christ.
He said, if they come to your door, Don't receive them into
your house. And don't bid them God's speed. Don't say, well, I don't agree
with you entirely, but I wish you the best. Absolutely not. He said, you're a partaker of
their evil deeds. They're out there. They're everywhere. And not only that, but to our
great danger, it would seem, if left to ourselves, they are
absolutely wonderful counterfeits. Counterfeits. Look at what he
says, "...beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." That's what
our Lord said about the Pharisees, who were the most prestigious,
religious, and moral people of their day, the teachers. He said,
on the outside, you're like whited sepulchres, but on the inside,
you're full of dead men's bones. You have the outward appearance
of beauty and that which is good and surely to be of God, but
on the inside you're corrupt and vile and you know not the
truth." He said, on the outside they're like sheep, but on the
inside they're ravening wolves. You remember when Satan deceived
our mother Eve in the garden? When he deceived her, he did
so as that one which appeared to her eye the most beautiful
beast of the field. Not only that, but he deceived
her, taking the Word of God and changing that Word of God to
make it say exactly what it didn't say. Don't ever think. that the deceiver and the false
prophet does not use the Word of God. The Word of God used
by Satan is such that even in the temptation of Christ, he
used the Scriptures, didn't he? He said, haven't God said? That
sounds so familiar to my ears. I hear people every day, I hear
preachers saying, this is what the Lord said. This is what the
Bible says. You say, if that's what the Bible
says, it's got to be good. Not if it's not really what the
Bible says. People grow up listening, and
they grow up hearing, and they grow up believing. But they really
do not have faith, because what they believe is not based on
what they know to be true from the Word of God itself, because
they've never read it. You say, I'll tell you what I
believe. You don't believe anything that you don't know to be true
from this book. You don't know anything that
you don't know by virtue of you having read it and the Spirit
of God taught it to you as the truth of God. You don't know
any of these things unless this is what God has taught you from
His book. Now what a man says may be true,
but you don't know it to be true. If you haven't opened up this
book, if you haven't sought in the Word of God to see exactly
what God Himself has said. And this is the deception that
comes that is characterized by the devil himself in what he's
already done. But turn over to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians and the 11th chapter. Now in his day, this man Paul,
who is the apostle of God, who is used by the Spirit of God
to write the greater part of the New Testament, and yet compared
to the other preachers, you might say, in his day, men and women
can look at him and say, well, there really isn't much to him.
Now listen to what he says. He says, would to God you could
bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. He said,
it's almost foolish for me to have to tell you these things.
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. Somebody says,
well, the only reason that preacher is concerned is he's afraid I'll
run off and join somebody else's church. Now Paul said, I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. I don't want you to be deceived.
I don't want you to fall into error. I don't want you to die
without Christ. He says, for I have espoused
you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. I want you to be in that bride.
But I fear. lest by any means as the serpent
beguiled Eve." You know, the Scriptures say that Adam was
not deceived in the transgression. But the serpent, In his cunning,
in his subtlety, he beguiled, or he tricked Eve, deceived her,
and he says, I fear, just lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. What does that mean?
From the singleness that is in Christ. I fear lest somebody
comes along, and as the serpent tripped Eve, deceived her, they'll
deceive you into thinking that there is more than Christ, or
something other than Christ, or something added to Christ. No. He said it's the singleness
of Christ. He is the Way, He is the Truth,
He is the Life, He is the Light, He is the Savior, the Redeemer,
and there is no other. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you
have not accepted, you might well bear with him." That's what
I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that you'll be deceived
by somebody preaching Jesus who's not the Jesus. Another Jesus. I fear for you lest somebody
comes along and they have a gospel, but it's another gospel. Not
the gospel of grace, not the gospel of God, not the gospel
of Christ. And he said, I fear lest you
are led and directed by another spirit, not the Holy Spirit. For I suppose I was not a wit
behind the very chiefest apostles, but though I be rude in speech."
Now you just can't hardly imagine that the Apostle Paul, the great
Apostle Paul, that he would be anything other than a silver-tongued
orator, can you? Oh, he said, I was rude in speech.
He told it like it was. He spoke it from God himself. He's rude in speech. He says,
"...yet not in knowledge. But we have been throughly made
manifest among you in all things." He said, "...have I committed
an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because
I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?" What's he saying
there? He's saying, do you think that
the gospel I preach is of no value because you didn't have
to pay me a big salary for me to preach it? He said, I robbed
other churches taking wages of them to do you service. And when
I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. for that which was lacking to
me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied, and in all
things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and
so will I keep myself." I heard an old preacher, or I read where
an old preacher many years ago, he said, it's better to be a
lean bird in the wilderness than a fat bird in a cage. All these
preachers, they're just fat birds in a cage. They live sumptuously,
they have all these things, but they know if they open their
mouth and tell the truth, they won't have them long. He says,
"...as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of
this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore, because
I love you not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do,
that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that
wherein they glory, they may be found even as we, for such."
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. Now, here's where it gets really
serious. He says, "...and no marvel, or
it is no wonder, For Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light." He's not a little fellow running around here with
pointed ears and a pointed tail and a red flannel suit and a
pitchfork. He's not out here as one of those
to whom is ascribed all the wickedness and evil. The wickedness and
evil of this world comes out of the heart of fallen sinners
like us. No, He's changed into an evil
of light, an angel of light, a messenger of light. We're going
to tell you the truth. We've got a little... We've got a little extra light
on this subject now. We've got a new way of worship. We've got a new gospel. We've got a contemporary gospel. I love what that old Puritan
said. He said, if it's true, it's not new. And if it's new,
it's not true. He says, now listen, "...therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness." We're going to tell you about righteousness.
We know all about this gospel stuff, Christ, but we're going
to tell you how to live. We're going to tell you how to
have a Christian family. He says, whose end shall be according
to their works." I'm telling you what, I don't want my end
to be according to my works. No way. I don't. No way. You see, and not only that, but
according to this text and almost every one that we've read, they
also outwardly appear as successful. They're successful. Many. You know, that's how success
is measured nowadays. How many? How many did you have
in Sunday school? How many members do you have?
How much money did you take in? All these things. That's what
measures man-made religion, not God. The Bible says that Noah
was a real preacher of righteousness. His congregation consisted of
eight people. He's the only preacher of righteousness
on the earth in his day. He was preaching a message God
gave him concerning the only way of salvation. Well, no, you're
talking about being saved, and look at us. You're talking about
a flood we had never seen rain. He was telling the truth. And
every one but those eight people, they perished. They died under
the hand of divine just wrath. If you look down in Matthew chapter
7 and verse 22, this is what our Lord says. They're going
to go into the judgment with this glorious resume of theirs. Verse 22, He said, "...many will
say to men that day, Lord, Lord, thank the Lord, the good Lord."
What was that one described in your reading this morning? The
Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And they're going to talk about
Him like they do in this world, like He's just, you know, your
best buddy. You know, everybody knows the
Lord. Not this one. They'll say, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied, have we not preached in Thy name? And in
Thy name we even cast out devils. and in thy name done many wonderful
works." You look around you in religion, and all these preachers
and groups and all, if you listen, you don't really have to look
too hard. They'll tell you what they've been doing, how they
support this, this time of year, they're going to go around, they're
going to gather all this food or whatever it is. You know,
I'm all for poor people getting food. I am. But when you do that to offer
it up to God as a basis of His accepting you, it's awful. It's a disgusting, evil, shameful
thing in His sight. And there, what they do is basically
sell their services. You know, if you stop and think
about it, a man who claims to be a preacher, if he's not going
to preach the gospel, he's got to have something to sell. He's
got to have some goods to offer. What will he do? Oh, I'll tell
you what. You get sick and he'll go camp
out at the hospital for you. Somebody in your family needs
marrying, he's right there on the spot. When you die, he'll
give you a good burying, brag over you, lie about you, whatever
you want. He sells his services. He doesn't
have any gospel. He doesn't have bread for the
sheep. He doesn't have those green pastures
of God's Word. But he's always in the majority.
You remember when Elijah went up on Mount Carmel and stood
there before the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the
groves? Eight hundred and fifty of them
to one. And so he just backed off and
gave them the first go-round. And so they began to do all these
things that impress flesh, which is simply things of the flesh.
They began to cry, and they began to scream, and they began to
call out and look up with pious faces, I'm sure, and it got to
the point to show their sincerity. They began to cut themselves
with knives and sacrifice and do all these things. But the
heavens were as brass to them when everything was said and
done. And God had not received their sacrifice. Elijah, he brought
forth the sacrifices that God had commanded him. Not only did
he lay them on that altar, but he began to bring barrels of
water and heap on them and pour on them, because he said to God,
that answers by fire, let him be God. And here he is, one man
against 850 religious figures, and God, in the answer to his
prayer, I think it's something like 64 words, which amounted
to this, Lord, if you be God, and I'm your servant, and I'm
here at your bidding, receive your sacrifice. And God rained
down fire out of heaven and consumed the sacrifice, every bit of it,
to the point that the fire even licked up the water in those
ditches around it. And this one man stood in the
face of those prophets and all those people, and he said, how
long are you going to halt between two opinions? It ain't but two
opinions. Man's opinion, God's opinion.
Salvation that's of the Lord. It's all of His grace. It's all
in Christ Jesus and Him crucified. He said, how long will you halt
between two opinions? If Baal be God, you serve Him. But if the Lord be God, you serve
Him. This ain't a game. We're not
competing for church membership. We're not competing for favors.
We're not competing for your valuable self. It's the glory
of God. It's the glory of God. But notice
here how Christ says that they'll be recognized. How will they
be exposed, these false prophets? You see, He never warns His people
about something without giving them a means by which to heed
that warning and to know what's being warned about. Look at what
he says in verse 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Are you going to go to a thistle
tree to get some figs? Are you going to go to an old
sweet gum tree like we have around here to get you a nice orange?
Ye shall know them by their fruits." And then in verse 20, "...wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them." I'm so thankful to God
that He says to His people, you shall know them. How are you
going to know them? By their fruits. What is the
fruit of a preacher? What is the fruit of a prophet? It's his doctrine. He's already
told us it was not simply his outward moral conduct. Outwardly,
he said, they will just appear just like God's sheep, the finest
of the finest. And you know you stop and think
about it. If you're looking for sincerity, if you're looking
for zeal, if you're looking for all these outward things, morality,
there are some folks in this religious world that can outshine
you. Sincerity, sacrifice, So how
do you know them? Their fruits. Their doctrines. Their doctrines. You know them
by what they major on. You know them by what they emphasize. You know them by what they preach. That's right. Because of man. A man that calls himself a preacher
or a servant of God, whatever his name is. I got a Christmas
card that was sent to a reverend shepherd. I'm not any reverend. Holy and reverend is his name. But a preacher really believes
what he consistently preaches. He doesn't believe what he says
he believes over a cup of coffee. at Bojangles. He doesn't believe,
really, what he's willing to maybe slip in on an occasional
Wednesday night service when the crowd's kind of small. He
believes what he preaches. Service, after service, after
service, after service, after service. I've always said, whatever's
in the well, that's what comes up in the bucket. Whatever's
in our hearts, whatever's in our mind, whatever we're convinced
in our soul by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, that's
what we preach. Not like a politician. Now you
can watch this. If you want to see a prime example
of a false preacher, you'll get a lot of examples in the next
year. Here is political candidate, politician, Joe Jones. And today he's at the union gathering. He's giving a speech before the
union crowd. What's he going to do? He's going
to throw them a few bones, isn't he? I think it's a disgrace the
way that the working man's been treated. Tomorrow he'll be over
with a veteran's group, and he'll say, I'm thoroughly for expanded
benefits in our VA program. And tomorrow he'll be over in
front of the woman's group, and he'll just cry out against the
abuse of women and such as that. He's playing to the crowd. That's
the way a preacher does. He knows that old so-and-so's
there that He might have a little inkling about the grace of God.
He'll throw him a bone. He'll mention maybe something
about the elect quickly, sovereignty quickly. He's just throwing him
a bone, you know. He's just got him on a hook. Because he's wanting a reason
to justify why he's not where the gospel is really being preached.
He has a head knowledge of it, but no heart and love for it.
He loves something else better But he wants to appease his conscience.
Well, I'll tell you what, he preaches grace. You wish he did,
by name. But you know he doesn't. That's
why you keep trying to convince yourself of it. There's one thing
about it. I ain't much of a preacher. But
if you come to hear me, you're going to find out what I really
believe. He'll beguile you. On one hand,
it says, Paul said, I didn't come to you and preach to you
with enticing words of man's wisdom. But when he warned about
false prophets and people being deceived, he said, they'll come
to you with enticing words. They'll brag on you. They'll
make you feel good about yourself. They'll preach that positive,
inspirational message. But they won't tell you who you
are based on what God says you are. They won't tell you the
one way that God can be just and yet justify a sinner. They
won't exalt the holy character of God. But not only that, not
only in what He says, but what a man really believes is reflected
in his methodology. A man doesn't believe one thing
and do another. What he really believes is what
his methodology is based on. I know that firsthand. Because
one of the first things that happened to me when the Lord
began to reveal the truth to me, and He began to show me the
gospel of His free and sovereign grace, the very first thing that
got me in trouble was that it changed my methodology. You see,
men and women, religious men and women, they don't mind a
little grace. as long as you don't tear down
any of their idols." Well, you know, we don't agree with him
on everything he said, but, you know, he doesn't push it. We can still have our cantatas,
and we can still have our big Christmas programs, and we can
still have our social programs, and we can still do this, and
we can still do that. I'll never forget when I saw
and I knew when I knew that this invitation business where people
are exploited by preachers who are just looking for another
notch or two on their preacher gun, and he puts the pressure
on them to get them to come down the aisle and shake a preacher's
hand and sign a card and do all these things and gets them to
make a profession of faith, and he's so mercenary he invades
the children's department and gets these professions of faith
out of young children who have no understanding of the gospel.
When I saw that, and that invitation had to stop, because Christ is
not at the front, and being saved is not by shaking my hand, that's
when I got in trouble. When the Godless Christmas program
had to go. When I had to tell somebody Jesus
was not actually born on December 25th. I'm sorry, but he wasn't. When you have to say, there is
actually no command in Scripture or even hint that we are to worship
any special day with regard to the birth of Jesus Christ? Oh
my! You have got to ask yourself,
do you want to know God or do you want to go on this little
hallelujah hayride to hell? Everybody's going to like you,
everybody's going to have a big time, everybody's going to feel
good about themselves and each other, but you're going to perish
because you don't know the true God in Jesus Christ. All the various groups and programs
and the godless denominations, I'll tell you why I'm not in
a denomination. Number one, there's no example
of it in Scripture. No God-given mandate. But most
of all, their goal, and my goal, far apart. Far apart. You see, their goal is to get
numbers, to magnify the denomination, to pay for all the hired help
in the local and regional and national and worldwide structure. Mine is to tell the truth about
God, glorify Him, and try to preach that gospel by which He'll
call out all His sheep. When you tell them that God does
not love everybody. That's three questions I want
to know from a person. What do you think about the love
of God? Well, we believe God loves everybody. No. He said
He hated Esau. He said He hates all workers
of iniquity. He hates those that sow discord
among the brethren. You're trying to tell me He loves
everybody? The love of God is in Christ. He loves His people
in Christ. What do you think about the death
of Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus died for everybody.
He said He did. He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. And you look at those Pharisees,
He said, you're not of my sheep. You're not of my sheep. It says
He purchased the church with His own blood. That husbands
are to love their wives even as Christ loved the church and
gave Himself for it. Can you imagine that Christ shed
His blood for anybody that He didn't actually save is the biggest,
most blasphemous thing I've ever known. And then what's the Holy
Spirit trying to do? Well, He's trying to save everybody.
You mean to tell me that the omnipotent Spirit of God If He
wanted to save you, He couldn't. Fool me. You see where this has
gone to in our day? His sheep hear, He said, My sheep
hear My voice, and they follow Me. They won't follow a stranger. They won't. And they speak peace
to sinners when there is no peace. That's what he says in Jeremiah.
He said, the false prophet speaks peace to men when there is no
peace. You see, there is no peace with
God. There is no peace from God apart
from the blood of Jesus Christ. Well, you say, well, preacher, I had this experience when I
was young. Well, you're probably a Christian then. Or, like one
lady told me once, I just feel like I'm saved. Well, you probably
are. No. Peace with God is not by
anything you do or you feel. It's through one outside of yourself
and His cross death. Well, I go to church. I've been
baptized. I give. I'm sorry. If that's the basis of your peace
with God, you have no peace. You can't make peace. And the
only way that we can ever be brought through this, by this,
kept from being deceived, is the Spirit of God taking the
Word of God. When He convinces us that this
is the Word of God, This is the truth. That salvation is of the Lord. That we are sinners, helpless
ever of saving ourselves. He'll bring us through all this
stuff. Sometimes the Lord's people, even because they have such pressure
put on them by friends or family, they kind of take a little glance
back. Well, you know, no. No, this is what it says. This
is what it says. Only by His gospel and by His
Spirit will God expose them and save all His people from their
sins. And therein will be, Joe read
it, that the beast and the false prophet were cast into the lake
of fire. Oh, I'm so glad it is true. that
His name is Jesus, because He shall save His people from their
sins. And so terrible and so deceptive
is the deception of our day and of all this age between the first
coming and the second of Christ, that if it were possible even
the very elect of God would be deceived. I sure do like that,
if it were possible. God, hold fast to us. Put our
eyes on Christ. Keep us until He bears us into
His presence. Father, this day we give You
praise and glory. You alone are worthy. We're thankful
that You are the Savior of Your people. and that not one of them
will perish, and not one of them will be ultimately and finally
deceived. They shall all be taught by you,
and everyone that's learned by you comes to Christ, believes
on Him alone. and finds that rest and peace
and safety in Him. We thank You for this day. We
thank You for Your dear Son. We thank You for this food that
we're about to partake of, for every blessing from You for this
time of fellowship, for these that are gathered here today.
Bless Your Word to their hearts. For we ask it all in Christ's
name. Amen.