Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 29. Proverbs chapter
29. A book penned by a man named
Solomon. A book of wisdom. Wisdom that
we need to hear. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture, 29 verse 12. The Scripture says, if a ruler
hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked. Genesis 1.1 says that in the
beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And in God's creation, order,
rule was established. Everything had its place. Day, night, land, sea, the sun,
the scripture says to rule the day and the moon to rule the
night, the heavens, stars, Seasons possess order because that's
God's will, God's rule. Almighty God rules in heaven
and earth. He created all things and by
him, the scripture says, all things consist. And in God's
creation, God had created all things, and the last that He
created was man. He created man out of dust, and
He took a woman out of the man. And there was an order set concerning
man was the head of the woman, a picture of Christ Jesus the
Lord being the head of His bride. Man had dominion over all the
animal kingdoms. Even after the fall, that order
of rule remains. Why? Because God doesn't change.
God created rule, order. So from the beginning, the creation,
order was brought forth over all God's creation and everything
is ruled from the lowest creeping things that God created to the
highest order of God's creation, man. Everything has rule over
it. Order, rule was established and
man was created with a need of having rule. We need order. We need order. Talking to Glenda
coming over here, and I was thinking how God has established his church,
his assemblies. He raises up a pastor. And I mean, just, I'm so thankful
that God has given me the, ability to be able to have sat under
a pastor. Brother Scott was my pastor.
And I looked to him, because God had established it like that.
Imagine how it is without a pastor. Scripture talks about the Old
Testament, people began to do that which was right in their
own eyes. Well, I think this way, or I think, no, no, no,
no, no. We have rule, we have order. So God created man, he formed
man out of the dust, breathed into his nostrils, and God set
rule over him. He put him in a garden. He established
his rule would be for Adam to till the garden and dress it. But Adam had rule over him, and
it was God. You can eat of all the trees
of the garden, but one. That garden, you won't eat of
that, because in the day you do, you're gonna die. God established
rule. But in this place of perfection,
in that garden where nothing but goodness and God's blessing
and order and rule and presence was found, something happened. in that garden which could only
have happened according to God's permissive will. Believe me,
everything that happened in the garden was permitted by God. God is not the author of sin.
We never insinuate that. But God Almighty allowed man
to do exactly what man did. What did he do? acted upon the
lie of Satan, and he disobeyed God. And from that one act of
disobedience, by one disobedience, one act, all mankind died spiritually. But though man died spiritually,
his desire to have rule over him did not leave. God created man like that. He
created man with the need of having rule. And though man fell
in the garden and possessed now a dead heart, spiritually dead
heart, man still has that need of direction. He has that need
of rule. That heart though that has fallen
now is governed by that which is not right and not good, not
holy. I said that man still has that
need of rule. And I know that's true because
as we look around throughout all this world, I told you when
we were in Mexico, it didn't have to be Mexico, go anywhere.
But everywhere you go, the tribes, the peoples, they've got a God,
a little G God that they have. I watch these cowboy shows, and
you know, they'll be talking to the Indians, and the Indians,
they talk about this, the great spirit. That is in man, there's
a conscience in him of right and wrong. He knows, and there's
that need of having a God. But the problem
is man's ability to know the true and living God, to know
him who truly rules, was gone. It was darkened. And now he makes
up gods of his own imagination. God saw, Genesis 6-5, that every
imagination of the thought of man was only evil. So whenever
you see these little g-gods being manifested and prayed to, and
they are, because man has got that need in his heart. But what happens is how these
imaginary gods, and that's what they are, They make them up,
man, by nature, make them up. They just create a God in their
mind, and they decide what pleases their God or what displeases
their God. But they're imaginary, they're
play-like, like we used to play-like. Play-like, let's play Army. Let's
play Cowboys and Indians, let's play-like. It's just a game.
But this is their God that they feel and need to rule over them. But the way that they manifest
their God, and this is, I'm talking about everybody. I don't care
if it's in the jungles of Mexico or anywhere else, or if it's
in the most sophisticated place in any city that you can find
in this world, there's still a way in which they manifest
or propagate or put forth their little G God. And it's a way
that is very deceitful, very, very deceitful. Because it's
done in a way that appears to a spiritually dead heart, it
appears to be of God because of the way they manifest it. The Lord God of heaven established
the way that he manifest his truth, his gospel, and the way
that God was pleased to manifest the truth. Now this is the way
God does it. The scripture says, In 1 Corinthians
121, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Now this is the way God manifests
the truth. Through preaching. Preaching.
That's God's way. That's God's established way.
And there's no other way. There is no other way. that God
has been pleased to save his people, but by this means right
here, preaching. The Lord has been pleased to
supply the need of his people, God's people, born just like
everybody else, with that same need of knowing who God is. Before we made one up, I came
up in false religion. I had my God. He was a God people
told me about, but I believed him. He wasn't very powerful. He had to have me to help him. He didn't have any arms but my
arms. No hands but my hands. He needed me. But when God Almighty
was pleased to call me by his grace and reveal Christ in me,
he put a new heart in me. and taught me who Christ is,
revealed Christ in me. That's what Paul says. When he
pleased God, when he pleased God. All of a sudden, by the
grace of God, I realized that little G God wasn't God anymore.
He's not God. God is God Almighty. But how
did I hear? How did I hear that? How did
I know that? Well, it was by the grace of God who rules in
heaven and earth to send a preacher. Send a preacher. He said in Jeremiah
3 15, I will give you pastors according to my heart, which
will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And these
men, according to the good pleasure of God, have delegated rule. Obey them that have the rule.
I looked it up. It actually means control and
counsel. The rule. They are taught of
God and they set forth the truth of God's word. And these men
who have this delegated rule, they do one thing. This is what
I'm called to do. To preach Christ and him crucified. To preach the gospel of God's
free grace. those that are called of God
preach Christ who is the truth. And that's it. I'm not interested
in anything else because if I find myself, would find myself to
be a committer of the heinous crime of not preaching the gospel,
I'm sinning against God. Paul, the apostle, said in Galatians
1.8, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be
accursed. Woe unto him! Woe! You leave
this world without believing the gospel. Woe! Woe! So God's servants, by the good
pleasure of God, are called to preach the gospel because there
is a need that God Almighty has put in man to know who God is. There's a rule, there's a rule,
and that rule stands. And before, as I said before,
they'll make up a God. He's a God to them, but not God's
servants hearken to the truth. But, and here's where I want
to say all of that to deal with this passage right here, and
I won't keep it but a minute longer. Satan, to give the appearance
of legitimacy to his message, to his servants, because God
Almighty has chosen the foolishness of preacher, or what this world
calls foolishness, God has chosen preaching of the gospel, to manifest
himself to his people, the people of his choosing. But Satan, who
is wily, the wiles of the devil, Satan knows that this is how
God calls his people out. So what does he do? He's going
to have him some false prophets, the ones we're always warned
against and about. And he's got them scattered throughout
all this world, spreading the lies of salvation by man's free
will. Scripture never sets that forth
as being the truth. Man does not have a free will,
he's dead. But Satan says he's not. He says,
like he said to Eve, did God say? Did God say that? to die, and man born with a dead
heart, spiritually dead heart, he believes it. Why? Because
again, every imagination is mine, it's evil, continually. Satan, to make it look like it's
real, that this is of God, you raise up a building, and you
get your false preacher. will manifest his lie through
false prophets. How many times in the scriptures
do we find being warned, being warned, being warned? The Lord
said in Matthew 24 11, many false prophets shall arise and shall
deceive many. There's many in this world that's
proclaiming this soul damning lies. The scripture talks about
these servants, a ruler. If a ruler hearkened to lies,
this ruler, God's got a people that they have a pastor who rules
with delegated authority. He's not a monarch. He's not
a king. We have one king. But it's those
that watch for men's souls. But Satan is going to manifest
his lie to mimic what God Almighty does. He's a counterfeit. Whenever
you see counterfeit money, it looks pretty good, pretty close. You don't have to have somebody
that's got a little savvy to be able to pick up on it. But
I'm telling you, the lies of Satan, they mimic, they use good
words. They talk about grace and salvation,
crucifixion, Christ died on the cross, rose from the dead. They
say all these things. And it's so close. It's so close. That's the danger, danger of
this. But they got all you need. What
do you need? Years ago, I got a taste for
some ice cream. It was pistachio almond. There
wasn't any other, there wasn't any other ice cream to me for
a while there but pistachio almond. And I'd drive from where I live,
if I had to drive 20 miles to get that pistachio almond, I'll
do it. I'd do it. Well, why didn't I like strawberry
or vanilla or why didn't I, chocolate or chocolate chip or something
like that? I like pistachio almond. Why does this religion not suit
this one right here? Satan's got you one. You don't
like that one, I got one over here. Now if you don't like that
one, I got this one right here. This one says this, but it comes
right down to this. It's always salvation by your
works. It's always salvation by works.
It's always salvation by your choice and your free will and
your decision. Now the scripture warns us in
this passage If a ruler hearkens to lies,
to hear it, to give attention to it, to heed it, to be inclined
to it, give us attention to it. If a ruler, if man's standing
and he hearkens to lies, here's what the scripture says. All his servants are wicked. Now I want to close this message
by asking you to turn to 1 John 4, 2. 1 John 4, 2, because here's the
question that all of us ought to ask. How do I know? How do I know? Well, I could
make this statement. I could say, be like those in
Berea. They searched the Scriptures
daily to see whether these things were so. But this one passage
of Scripture right here came to my mind as I was preparing
this message, 1 John 4, 2. Now listen to this. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Let me tell you what you're thinking. Doesn't everybody believe that?
Isn't that right? I mean, everybody say, I believe
Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Demons believe that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh. So here is what's being said.
When we look at these scriptures right here, Here's the danger
of not understanding what's being said. The preacher who is truly
motivated by the Holy Spirit of God is going to declare these
five things that I've jotted down here. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God, every spirit, every preacher, that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the fleshes of God. Number one, who came? Who came? Well, the scripture says that
Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means that God-man, the God-man,
the Christ. God-man, the unity, of divinity
and humanity is the Christ. He's the Messiah. So here's what's
happening. Those that preach the truth declare
that God Almighty was made flesh, the Messiah that came. Okay,
but here's the second thing. He came every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ Okay, now, is come. Now those two words
right there, is come. If we miss this, we're gonna
miss what's being said. We believe, according to the
scriptures, that God Almighty made flesh, made like unto his
brethren, made in the likeness of sinful flesh. No sin in him,
but made in the likeness of sinful flesh, came. Here's my second
question. Why? Jesus Christ is come. See, somebody say, well, I believe
he came. Okay, here's what I wanna know,
why? Why did he come? He came, the
scripture says, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people. from their sins. He came. Why? Call His name Jesus because He
will save His people from their sins. A people of God's choosing. Bound to give thanks to you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning,
2 Thessalonians 2.13, chosen you to salvation. He came. Why did He come? Who came? The
Messiah came. Why did he come? He came to save
his people, a people of God's choosing, a people that he laid
down his life for, John 10, 15. A people for whom he is the surety
of God's sheep, a people that he came to finish the work for,
making an end of sin's power and dominion for them. He came to lay down his life
for the people that God Almighty had given him, leaving nothing
for the sheep to do for their salvation. He came to reconcile
his people back to God by his shed blood and robe them in his
perfect righteousness before God. He came, okay, that's a
fact, he came, but why? Why? That's the issue. Every spirit, know this, that
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come. If we miss
the reason for him coming, we've missed it all. The fact that
he came is undeniable. But why did he come? And then
here's the third thing. When he came, what did he do? Did he just come here as an example?
This is what you ought to be like? No. I'm gonna sum this
one up real fast, this point. He finished the work. He came
into this world. He said, I've come, sent the
Father to finish the work that he'd given me to do. What'd he
do? From the cross he cried, it's finished. Now let me ask
you this. How much is left if it's finished?
How much is left to do if it's finished? Now here's a, that's
a pretty easy question. How much is left if it's finished? If it's finished, what's left
for you to do? Nothing, nothing. Who came? The Christ. Why did he come?
To save his people. What did he do? He finished the
work. Here's my fourth point. By his coming, by his coming,
how many sinners is he gonna save? How many sinners is he
gonna save? I know exactly how many. All that the Father has given
him. How many is that? All of them.
What's the number? All of them. A number that no
man can number, but God knows how many he's gonna save. All
that the Father hath given me shall come to me. And here's
my last point. Because he came and finished
the work given him by the Father, where shall all the elect be
eternally found? I can tell you this from John
17, 24. Father, I will that those that thou hast given me be with
me where I am, that they might behold my glory Beloved, he is
our true and faithful ruler. We are the people of his kingdom,
saved by grace, through faith, through the means of faith, and
that not of yourselves. It was a gift of God. Gift of
God. Now, whosoever confesseth this
is of God, and whosoever confesses not this is not of God. That second verse of 1 John 4,
hereby you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ He has come and tell me why. Tell me what
he did. Tell me where he is. Tell me
what he's doing right now. I can tell you exactly what he's
doing right now. He's ever living to make intercession for his
people. That's what he's doing. And he's
coming back to get his people. Now, brethren, 1 Timothy 4, 6. Take heed unto yourselves and
unto the doctrine continue in them, for in doing this, thou
shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. God's preachers
take heed. They take heed to what they preach. They take heed what they say
concerning the glory of God. Take heed to what you hear. Again,
I would admonish you, search the scriptures and find out if
these things be so. for God's glory and our eternal
good. Amen. All right, let's take a
quick break.