Good morning. We had a opportunity to worship
with the brethren in Cherokee this past Wednesday night, and
Wayne and Laverne Land send their love. I have a picture of them
on my phone if you'd like to look at it. It was good to be
there. Robert, thank you for the message
you brought Wednesday night. It's a blessing. And, oh, Ed Emrick, for those of you
that haven't heard, had an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday and
he went home last night. So he's home recovering from
that. Psalm 54, save me, oh God, by
thy name. and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God, and give
ears to the words of my mouth." That's our hope this morning.
Brother Burt, we're going to open. 7070. Hymn number 70. Let's
stand together. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, holy,
holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy
sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling
down before thee, Which word and ardor evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the
darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may
not see. Thou art holy, there is none
beside Thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Y'all can be seated. I am so thankful that we approach
our God at a throne of grace. He's holy. We're coming into
the presence of a holy God. You ever had a conversation with
somebody and they were distracted while you were trying to talk
to them? Maybe they're looking at their phone or looking at
other people, and after a few minutes you just realize, this
person is not interested in me. Isn't that what we do when we
worship God? That's what I do. I can't seem
to keep my attention on the one that is holy. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us
for our worship. And thank you that we have a
throne of grace that we can come to boldly. That we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we do ask
that you would be merciful to us. Remember that we are made
of dust. Lord, be patient and kind, gracious. For Christ's sake, we pray that
you would look over our sin, put it away under his blood,
and be pleased to forgive us, Lord. We thank you that we have
a high priest who bears the iniquity of our holy things. For surely,
Lord, that you are God, that's holy, holy, holy. Heaven and
earth is filled with your glory. Lord, we ask that you would open
the windows of heaven. that you would shine the light
of your grace into our hearts and cause us, Lord, to get a
glimpse of your glory and to be enabled by your Spirit to
enter into a spirit of worship. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. We're going to continue our study
in 2 Corinthians if you'd like to turn with me there in your
Bible. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 11, last
Sunday morning, we looked at the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus. If the eye be single, the whole
body shall be full of light. But if the eye be evil, full
of labors, then the whole body shall be full of darkness, and
how great is the darkness thereof. Paul is saying, I'm jealous for
you. Oh, I want you to have a singleness
in your hope that Christ will be your all, that you'll not
add anything to Him or take anything away from Him. The Word of God
ends with that warning, doesn't it? John writes in Revelation
chapter 22, if any man add to the words of this prophecy, And
it's in God's good providence that he adds this at the end
of the canon of scripture. I've heard people say, well,
the Lord's just talking about revelation. No, he's talking
about the whole of scripture. If any man add to the words of
this prophecy, the curses of this book will be added unto
him. Don't add your works to Christ. Don't add your free will
to the work and the sovereign will of God. Don't add to it. The curses of this book will
be added unto you. And if any man take away, Christ
hasn't been enough. I've got to do my part. If any
man take away from the words of this prophecy, then his name
should be taken from the book of life. And there's no hope
of salvation in robbing from Christ his glory in salvation. So the Lord concludes the whole
of the gospel with that warning. And Paul now says, oh, that you
would have a single eye towards Christ and Christ alone would
be everything to you in your salvation. And now he's going
to expose the false prophets that are coming in behind him
for what they really are. What they really are. Look at
verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. Now, Satan is a counterfeiter. It's all he can do. And his counterfeits
are worthless, cheap, and damning. But he presents himself, look
what he says in verse 14, and no marvel for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Now you and I have three
enemies. We have Satan, who is the accuser
of the brethren. He is a powerful spiritual being. We are in a spiritual warfare
with him. He hurls his fiery darts against
us and causes us to doubt God. And that's one of our enemies. And then there's the enemy of
our flesh. and that body of death that we
carry with us, the temptations of sin that are ever before us,
and the reality of our sin that is ever before us. David said,
I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me and my sin is ever before me. He's talking about that original
nature of sin that remains with him. Lord, I can't do anything
without sinning. We can't worship God without
sinning. I can't stand here and preach
the gospel to you without sin being mixed in it. Lord, my sin
is ever before me. So that's an enemy that's very
real. Now I've heard people say, well,
you know, Look at what the devil's doing and they'll talk about
some of the terrible things that men do. In Galatians chapter
5, the scripture says, the works of the flesh are manifest, which
are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
envy, murder, drunkenness. God calls those the works of
the flesh. You don't need the devil. You
don't need the devil to engage in fleshly, sinful things. You know, you hear people say,
well, the devil made me do it. No. Not only is the devil a counterfeiter,
he's also a masquerader. And one of the greatest lies
that he has told to the world is that he is some sort of evil
fiend that is dressed in a red coat with horns and pitchforks
and only inspires men into lives of immorality. That's not what
our scripture tells us. You know, you've seen this thing
going on in Washington, D.C., I guess, where all these atheists
have come together and they're protesting whatever. I don't
know what they're protesting. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Don't worry about the atheist.
You know, Satan's getting a whole lot more mileage. He's getting
a whole lot more mileage out of morality and out of religion
than he is getting out of atheism or out of some sort of fleshly, lascivious lifestyle. And that's what the Lord's telling
us here. This devil is an angel of light. He comes as a minister of righteousness. He's not some sort of scary, bloodthirsty, grotesque
monster. He doesn't present himself that
way. One of the shows I enjoy watching
on TV is River Monsters. Y'all ever watch that? And this
guy was over in Africa someplace in some obscure backwater place
and he was fishing for some fish that was It was supposed to be
dangerous. And the local people told him,
they said, you know, you need to go consult the witch doctor
and get his blessings before you go out on that river. And
he did. And the witch doctor comes out
of his hut. I mean, he looks like what you
would think. Well, that's the devil, you know.
And he's spitting on the ground and throwing bones around and
chanting. And then he gives this fisherman
his blessing. And the fisherman goes out on
the river. And I thought, You know, I would have gone with
you up till now. That's not, you know, the devil
might deceive a few people in a place like that by presenting
himself in such devilish, grotesque ways. But who's going to give
any attention to that? You see, the devil presents himself
as a preacher. He presents himself looking much
like I look. Standing behind a pulpit, opening
the Word of God. And speaking to people about
morality. and about living a good life
and serving God with all of your heart. That's what the Lord's
telling us here. John tells us to try the spirits
to see whether they be of God. Try the spirits. Search the word,
Paul said to the church, and see if what I tell you is true. And so the Lord's Those who promote a life of dedication
and morality and sacrifice and religious leaders, those are
the ones he's warning us against. Look what he says in verse 5
of chapter 11. For I suppose that I was not
a wit behind the very chiefest apostles. But though I be rude
in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been truly made manifest
among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in
abasing myself, that you might be exalted, because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely?" Now Paul's exposing these false
prophets as for their motivation. Their motivation is to merchandise
men's souls for their own profit. And Paul says, when I came to
Achaia, which is where Corinth is, the churches in Macedonia
provided for me financially so that I was not a burden to you.
And the reason I did that is because I knew that these Judaizers
were going to be coming in behind me and they were going to be
accusing me of the very thing that they're guilty of. And I'm
not going to give them that opportunity. I robbed, verse 8, 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'm not
going to give them ammunition. Now, is Paul suggesting here
that it's not the responsibility of a local congregation to provide
for its pastor? No. No. But under these special
circumstances, and I've had these circumstances in my life, where
I've gone to preach places where the people were taken advantage
of by religious charlatans and by men that were only interested
in merchandising them for their own profit. And I've done the
same thing. Just, you know, no, I'll pay
my own way. You've sent me to places to preach
where I refuse the support of those places because of that.
And so that's all Paul's saying. He's saying I would not take
it from you. Verse 10, as the truth of Christ
is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the region
of Achaia. You're not going to have an opportunity
to accuse me of this, not in Achaia. Wherefore, because I
love you not, am I doing this because I don't love you? God
knoweth. He knows that I love you. He
knows that I'm here because I have a concern for your soul. He knows
that I'm being faithful to the gospel to preach to you, but
I don't want to give them an opportunity to make a false accusation. 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." In other
words, I'm going to set the standard. And if what they're preaching
is true, let them follow my example. They're not going to do it. They're
not going to do it. Why? Because one of the motivations
behind a false teacher. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
2. 2 Peter chapter 2. If there was no profit to be
made, they would not be engaged in their religious activity.
They're doing it for financial gain. First, 2nd Peter. 2nd Peter chapter 2, look at
verse 1. But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as 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. Now, what
does the scripture mean, they're denying the Lord that bought
them? Well, they're honoring God with
their lips. They're saying that the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the price of redemption. So
they're confessing that Christ is the Redeemer, and that His
blood is the only thing that's sufficient for covering the sins
of His people, and yet then they turn around and speak out of
the other side of their mouth. So they're denying the Lord that
they say bought them. He's not saying that the Lord
bought them, purchased their redemption. Everyone for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ purchased their redemption is redeemed.
Not a drop of the Lord's blood was wasted from Calvary's cross.
He accomplished the redemption of his people. He satisfied the
demands of God's justice when he shed his blood and put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself once and for all. So people will say, here's another
way to identify these false prophets, these ministers of righteousness,
these angels of light, these false teachers who come in the
name of Christ, but in fact they are ministers of the devil. in that they will take out a
portion of scripture and twist it to mean something that it
doesn't mean, contrary to everything else in the scriptures. Noah
was telling me this morning about somebody that was on Facebook
using John 3.16 to support free will. and denying all the verses
that are before John 316, the verses that are after John 316.
But that's what they do. They rest the scriptures. They
pull the scriptures out of context. And you would have to do that
here to say, well, the Lord bought them and now they're denying
them. No. They're denying the one they
say bought them. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not." So what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 11,
let them follow my example. Let them come and serve the people
of God without any opportunity for financial gain, and they'll
go away. They'll go away. Because their
only concern is to merchandise your soul. You're no more to
them than a piece of merchandise. And they're doing it for their
own personal gain and own personal profit. And the Lord calls them
Satan transformed into an angel of light. In another place the
scripture says they walk in the way of Balaam who loved the wages
of unrighteousness. Balaam was a mercenary prophet. He had sold himself to the enemies
of God's people to prophesy against the people of God. And he did
it for personal gain. They run greedily after the heir
of Balaam for reward. It's nothing more than a job
for them. They put out their resumes. They look for a bigger
and better church. They're moving to bigger and
better opportunities, a bigger salary, a bigger house, a bigger
car. And it hasn't changed. It's still
the same. They're not committed to the
gospel. They're not committed to God's
people. They're looking out for themselves. And the Lord calls them the devil. You want to know what the devil
looks like? He looks a lot like what you're looking at right
now. I can say that with confidence.
I tell you what, you won't hear one who is the devil speak like
that, will you? You won't hear one who is a instrument
in the hands of the devil confess that the devil looks like he
does, but he does. He does. Secondly, the motivation
behind these false prophets, who God calls ministers of Satan,
is the praise of men. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
23. Matthew chapter 23. And as I use myself as an example
of that, I know that there are some who think that I am sent
of the devil. And if I am, you know, in other
words, it's one way or the other, isn't it? It's one way or the
other. Look at Matthew chapter 23 at
verse Well, we'll just begin in verse
1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to the disciples, saying,
The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So they're lawmongers. They're denying the finished
work and the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is not frustrated, He's not wringing his hands in heaven. He's the
end of the law for righteousness. He's put away the demands of
God's law for God's, the curse of the law for God's people.
And he's satisfied all its demands. And they are denying Christ.
Here's the, Satan's only interest is to deny Christ his glory.
And he can do that, he can get a whole lot more mileage out
of morality and lawmongering and free will religion than he
can out of a witch doctor. That's what Paul is saying here.
These men are coming in behind you. Look what he says. All therefore
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not
after their works, for they say and do not. Unless your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. You know, they say the
things that are right, things you should do and not do. Yeah.
Yeah, there's things you ought to do and things you ought not
to do. They're not doing it. And the problem is that you're
doing those things is not going to earn you any righteousness
with God. Look what he goes on to say,
for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them
on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers. Why would they do that? Why would
they put a burden of the law on you, burdens that they're
not keeping? Why would they do that? Well,
look. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men." If I can put you under the law, then I'm
presenting myself as one who's keeping the law, even if I'm
not. Why? To get your praise. And that's what's going on in
religion. Look at the preacher. Look what
he's doing. But all their works they do for
to be seen of men, they make broad their phylacteries, enlarge
the borders of their garments, and love the uttermost rooms
at feast, and the chief seats in the synagogue, and greetings
in the markets, to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be
not ye called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ,
and all ye are brethren." Brethren. They promote clergy laity. They promote themselves above
men. They are guilty of what the Lord
said, I hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, where man sets
himself up against it. And the people love it that way.
Turn with me to Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 23, I think. Let's try Jeremiah chapter 5.
Jeremiah chapter 5. Verse 30. A wonderful and horrible
thing is committed in the Lamb. Now when he says wonderful, he's
not talking about wonderful in the good sense. He's talking
about this is a horrible thing. This is a wonder. This is a wonder
that's full of wonder that why it would be so. The prophets
prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and
my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end
thereof? My people love it to be so. Why
do men love having another man as their priest? Why do they
love it to be so? So I don't have to deal with
Christ. See, I don't have to be a sinner. I don't have to
deal with God if I've got another man to stand in my stead between
me and God. And the Lord says, and priestcraft
is practiced in every religion. It's not just in Catholicism.
Priestcraft is practiced in Reformed religion among Calvinists who
set up their elders to be their priests and their intercessors
between them and God. And that's what Paul's talking
about. That's what he's saying. It's what the Lord said in Matthew
chapter 25. They love the praise of men. They wear their phylacteries. They wear their robes. They like
being called reverend. They like being called father.
They like being called rabbi. And my people love it so. So
everybody's to gain out of priestcraft. The preacher gets his accolades
and his power and control over the people and the people don't
have to worry about their responsibility before God to seek out God. They've got a man doing that
for them. And the Lord says it's a religion of the devil. It's a religion of the devil.
That's what the devil looks like. He's not a witch doctor. He's
not some sort of grotesque fiend running around with a pitchfork.
He's denying Christ His glory in salvation and leading people
to trust the preacher and to trust their own works and their
own free will for the hope of their salvation, not looking
unto Jesus, who himself is the author and the finisher of our
faith. They love the praise of men and
they love works. They love works. The Lord said
in Matthew chapter 7, many will say to me in that day, When I separate the sheep from
the goats, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? Have we not cast out devils in
thy name and done many wonderful works in thy name? And what's the Lord say to them?
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you."
There's the devil. The devil's going around casting
out devils. The devil's going around doing good works. The devil's going around promoting
morality and being religious. God calls them angels of light.
ministers of righteousness, robbing Christ of His glory in salvation. Try the spirits and see whether
they be of God. Does Christ get all the glory? Or is man promoting himself for
his own financial profit, for his own praise of men, for his
own praise of his own good works? What's the motivation behind
it? Paul said, I preach Christ to
you, Him crucified, that's it. He is everything in our salvation. All right, let's take a break. th th