I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
19. Proverbs 19. I'd like to deal this morning
with verses 5 to 9. Proverbs 19 verse 5. A false
witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall
not escape. Many will entreat the favor of
the prince, and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.
All the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do
his friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words,
yet they are wanting to him. He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He that keepeth understanding
shall find good. A false witness shall not be
unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish. I'm going to deal with those
verses five to nine, but I want to, for us to really consider
that eighth verse. He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He that keepeth understanding
shall find good." Now, I've entitled this message this morning, Do
I Care for My Soul? Do I care for my soul? He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He cares. In Luke 8.18, our Lord made this
statement. Take heed how you hear. Take heed how you hear. When men, women hear preaching. When they hear preaching. Now
there's a lot of people sitting in congregations today that's
hearing preaching. Four things take heed how you
hear. Number one, they ought to make sure it's
the gospel they're hearing. That's what Paul the Apostle
said. If we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel. And that which we preach to you,
let it be accursed. Take heed how you hear. Make
sure it's the gospel. Now you think of how many people
are not hearing the gospel this morning. Number two, when you hear the
gospel, hear it with reverence. Number three, hear it prayerfully,
asking. Lord, speak to my heart today. I need to hear today. I don't
want to hear words. I know the preaching of the gospel
is made up of the proclamation of words, but unless the Spirit
of God blesses this to my heart, it's just... We'll walk out just
like wayside here, it just falls by the wayside, and it just...
the birds come at us. It's nothing. I want to hear. I want to hear and I want to
hear prayerfully. And I want to hear by faith. Take heed how
you hear. I want to hear the gospel. I
want to hear it prayerfully, reverently, with God-given faith. Do I care for my soul? Now here's
the reason. Here's the reason. Number five. witness shall not be unpunished."
The Scriptures are filled with the fact of the presence of false
witnesses. 2 Peter 2.1 says this, "...but
there were false prophets also among the people, even as there
shall be false teachers among you." Now here's the question. How do you know them? How do
you know them? The Scriptures are filled, the
Lord warned, of false prophets. How do you know them? Here's
Isaiah 8.20. Now listen to this, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there's no light in them. The message
of the gospel. declares for God's people, God's
elect. The law has been satisfied. Is
that not right? To the law and to the prophets.
Do the prophets proclaim, He's coming? He's coming unto us. A child is born. A son is given. He's going to be born of a virgin. To the law and to the prophets.
To God's people. in the glorious declaration of
God's free and sovereign grace, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit." Why? The law has been satisfied. In every jot and tittle, he obeyed
God. Justice has been satisfied. He
laid down his life being made sin. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there
is no light in them. The Scriptures, according to our Lord's Word,
to the two on the road to Emmaus. What did He say? Beginning at
Moses. All the prophets, He expounded them. And all the Scriptures
in the Old Testament. Those things concerning Himself. How do you know a false prophet?
Now listen to the words of Jonah, the prophet. Salvation's of the
Lord. I had a man ask me yesterday. He
knew a pastor here. He said, now tell me the difference.
He said, what's the difference in you? And he named four or
five different denominations. What's the difference in you
and them? I thought, that's a good question. I summed it up just like this.
I said, there's only two messages being preached. I said, either
salvation is all of grace, either in its inception from before
the foundation of the world, in its accomplishment, and in
its application. Either salvation is all of grace,
it's of the Lord, and no works on man's part. Either it's that
way, or it has to be finished by man's ability. Now, whatever
you want to name it, it's either all of grace or it's man's work
to complete it. That's the only two, no matter
what you call it. And I said, we believe that salvation
is all of grace. I mean, I could have gone into,
you know, that's the heart of it right there. It's either grace
or man's works. Here's the truth of it. is according to God's grace,
electing grace. I put an article in the Bulletin
last week, I think, by Brother Henry. He had a conversation
going with a man. He asked the man, he said, do
you believe in election? The man said, well, no. How can you not believe in election?
Just where you were reading, Mark was talking about God's
elect, God's elect, God's elect. Listen to this. 2 Thessalonians
2.13, I love this passage of Scripture. God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification, setting
apart of the spirit and belief of the truth. Turn with me, hold your place
right there. Turn to Matthew 7.15. Matthew 7.15. Matthew chapter
7, verse 15 to 18. Now this is the Lord speaking.
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. Now, what is the difference in
good fruit and bad fruit? Here's the difference right here.
I'll just try to be simple, simple, simple. They proclaim salvation,
this is evil fruit, to be by man's work, something that you
have to do. You have to be baptized, you
have to speak in tongues, you have to do something, you have
to do something. Listen to me, if you have to do something to
make salvation complete, then salvation is not of grace to
you. Salvation is by your works, and
that's damnable heresy. There are, the Scripture says,
false witnesses. And our Scripture proclaims,
a false witness shall not be unpunished. And he that speaketh lies shall
not escape. Last verse, verse 9 says, a false
witness shall not be unpunished. He that speaketh lies shall perish. Here's the fruit. Here's the
evidence. I want you to turn to 2 Peter
2.1. I'm going to stay here just a second. and explain something about this
passage of Scripture right here. 2 Peter 2.1, because let me tell
you something. This is one of those passages
of Scripture that we want to understand exactly what the Spirit
of God is saying. 2 Peter 2.1, But there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you. who shall privily bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction." You know, you'd read that passage
of Scripture and you'd say, well now, even denying the Lord that
bought them? Bought here, and I'm going to
show you this, Lord willing, has nothing to do with redemption. I'll show you. What it has to
do with is God's providential right of ownership toward them. If bought here has to do with
redemption, Then I can tell you this, God called them out of
darkness. If the Lord paid their debt by His blood and bought
them with His blood, if that's what it meant, then consistently
with the Scriptures, then all that the Father had given me,
I laid down my life for. That's what the Lord said. And
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. If that's what
it meant. But I'm going to show you what
it meant. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 32. Now I want to answer this question
before I go to something else in that passage. Deuteronomy
32, 1 to 6. Give ear. What I want to do is
I want to show you what this word bought is talking about. Give ear, O heavens, and I'll
speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as
the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon
the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe
you greatness under our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. and all his ways are judgment.
A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." Now that's
a fact. There's a fact. Now listen to
this. They have corrupted themselves. Their spot is not the spot of
His children. They are a perverse and crooked
generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord,
O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy Father that hath
bought thee? Hath He not made thee, established
thee?" Moses is setting forth that the
spot of them that requite the Lord, or treat with disrespect
the Lord, their spot, their blemish, is not the spot of God's children.
They treat with disrespect or lightly esteem the rock of God
Almighty's Savior. They disrespect Him. What they do is they say, disagree
with the gospel of God's grace. Bought means ownership. He owns them. All souls are mine. And what happens is, back in
2 Peter 2.1, there were false prophets among the people, even
as there shall be false teachers among you, whose privilege shall
bring in damnable heresies. They come in, and it's not all
at once, but little by little. They bring in privately damnable
heresies, and they deny the Lord that owns them, who made them,
and can do with them whatsoever He chooses. They deny the Lord
who is the owner of all souls. Now, turn to Matthew 13.44. Matthew
13.44. Matthew 13. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a treasure hid in a field, which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth
all he hath, and buyeth the field. I spoke on this a few weeks ago.
Here's a picture. This field is the world. And
he owns it, the Lord owns it, buys all of it to get out of
it what's his, what he loves, what he's eternally chosen to
save. I'll show you another illustration,
same Matthew 13. Look at 47. The Lord's given
parable after parable after parable to prove this point. Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea, gathereth
in every kind. which, when it was full, they
drew to shore, sat down, gathered the good into vessels, cast the
bad away. So shall it be at the end of
the world. The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from
among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." When those fishermen
went in and pulled in all those fish, whose were they? They were the fishermen's. What
did they do with them? Whatever they wanted to do with
them, they kept the ones they wanted. And what did they do
with the ones they didn't want? Threw them back. So shall it
be in the end of the world. The Lord says the angels should
come, gather, God's sheep, enter in. To all that he never knew
in saving grace, loving grace, electing grace, He said, cast
them out. Does God Almighty have the right? This is the evidence of a false
prophet. They deny that God has the right
to do with all men as He sees fit. They'll say, that's not
fair. Matthew 20, 15, is it not lawful
for me to do what I will with my own? Romans 9.21, have the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor. Listen to me. A false prophet,
what he does is he sets forth that God is a slave to man's
will. And that God Almighty has to
do according to man's thinking. That's a false prophet. God Almighty
is God and He does as He will in the army of heaven among the
inhabitants of the earth and no man has a right to say to
Him, what are you doing? God's people bow, bow. I've said before, I can sit up
and say, this is just not so, this is just not fair. Does it
change it? No. If I truly believe that, and
I die believing that, God will put me in hell. Listen to this,
2 Peter 2, where I was before, 2 Peter 2, verse 2 and 3. And
many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way
of truth 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." These feigned words, lying, insincere, counterfeit. That's what they are, feigned
words, pretend words. Back in Proverbs. A false witness shall not be
unpunished. He that speaketh lies shall not
escape. Many will entreat the favor of the prince, and every
man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. These false prophets, they're
respecter of persons. through the prophet Isaiah said
this, Isaiah 56, 11, Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never
have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They
all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter,
or from the place where he is, or the town where he is. It's
just a job. It's just a job. It's just a
living. Scripture sets forth concerning
these false witnesses. Now here's, if you want to know
what really is going on in somebody's mind and attitude, if you want
to know, listen now, a man can stand in the pulpit and he can
say this, I love everybody and I want God to save everybody.
Let God be true. This is the truth. This is what's
going on. If you want to know what's going
on, Many will entreat the favor of the prince. Men of means are lodestones to
the godless preachers, those that deny that Almighty God is
God, despising the glory of God and His sovereignty. They despise God getting all
the glory. That's the issue here. Who gets
the glory? As a magnet attracts the slivers
of metal, steel, so men of means are like magnets to the self-seeking
worldly false prophets. That's the thorny ground here.
They seek the cares of this world. This is not always the case.
I know there are people in the Scriptures have been set forth,
Solomon, David, Abraham. They were very, very wealthy. But by and large, those who have
means, by and large, and not many, God raises up some, but
by and large, men of means are the targets of false prophets. Many will entreat the favor of
the prince, And every man's a friend to him that gives gifts. What's
in it for me? What's in it for me? But not
only do these false witnesses favor the prince, they despise
the poor. Those that seemingly have nothing
to offer them. Look at verse 7. All the brethren of the poor
do hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words,
yet they are wanting to him. Remember, the Scriptures reveal
the true motive, the motive of false preachers. Worldly gain. Like Judas. What was Judas' heart? Thirty pieces of silver. That's
the bottom line. For thirty pieces of silver,
He betrayed the Lord. Isaiah 1.23 says this, the princes
are rebellious. That is, they are against God,
against God's Word. And they are companions of thieves.
Everyone loveth gifts and followeth after rewards. They judge not
the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto
them." Why? There's nothing in it for me.
There's nothing in it for me. If you think this is not so,
turn on the television and just watch and tell me what is the
insinuation that's set forth in most, if not all, It's health and wealth and prosperity. If you don't have it, it's because,
number one, you haven't sent me any money. You send me some
money. I had somebody say one time,
send your money to the Lord, and they always give their address. You let a man be brought to poverty. And you watch how quickly a false
prophet is not interested. Look at Job 19. Job 19. Now you know the Scripture starts
off and it's talking about how Job, wealthiest of men. Job 19. Now here's Job by the
good pleasure and providence of God. His health has been taken. His kids have been taken. His
property has been taken, his wife tells him, why don't you
just curse God and die? Job 19.13, He hath put my brethren
far from me, and mine acquaintance are very barely estranged from
me. My kin's folk have failed. My familiar friends have forgotten
me. They that dwell in mine house, my maids, count me for a stranger.
I'm an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave
me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth.
My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's
sake of mine own body. Yea, young children despise me.
I arose, and they spake against me. All my inward men, the men
of my secret, my inward friends abhorred me. They whom I loved
are turned against me. This is the way it is. A false
prophet is not going to be unpunished. He that speaks lies, lies against
God. He's not going to escape. They
favor the prince. They love gifts. They hate the
poor. They go far from him. But in
closing, I want you to just look with me for a moment at that
verse of scripture that I wanted to kind of deal with, verse 8. He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He that keepeth understanding
shall find good. He that getteth, he that owns
is what that is, O-W-N-S. He that owns A heart for Christ. Wisdom. Himself. He that has
the Lord Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God. He that has, possesses,
has been given a saving knowledge of Him. And that by grace. How would we obtain it? I'll
give you a new heart. That's what the Lord said. I'll
put my Spirit in you. He that possesses a new heart
given in regenerating grace, he that has a heart to know that
God Almighty is the first cause in salvation, it is the Father
that has elected a people unto salvation. God has elected a
people. God has an elect. Those that
know that the Son has redeemed them by His precious blood being
made sin and put away their guilt, put away their debt. They died
in Him and He bore the wrath of God Almighty that was due
them and satisfied justice. The law was honored. Those that
know that the Spirit of God shall surely call out of darkness all
that the Father has given them, all that the Father has everlastingly
loved. Listen, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation has no part of man's
doing. If somebody tells you God has
done all He can do and it's up to you, all you have to do is
exercise your free will. All you have to do is just give
the Lord your heart. If you'll take that first step
toward the Savior, my friend, you could have taken them all.
Come to the Lord. He wants to save you. You have
a free will. He's a liar. He's a liar. And
I'm telling you, I'm telling you, If you ever go sit under
Him again, God have mercy on your soul. He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul. He loves his soul. You know what
the counterpart of that is? He that has not Christ hates
his own soul. He that getteth wisdom loveth
his own soul. He recognizes that his life is
in Christ and was not the product of his own will or ability. He that getteth, he that receiveth. You know, if I have a glass of
water, a glass, a glass, and I've got a pitcher of water right
here. And I poured water into that glass. That glass received
it. That glass received it. What did the glass have to do? Nothing. The glass received it. The water was poured into the
glass. It received it. He that receiveth me. It has
nothing to do with you doing something. He that has me given
to Him. He that receiveth me. That's
what He's talking about. Not by your action. Not by your
will. Oh, God will give a man a new heart. And he willingly,
lovingly comes to Christ. But he received the Lord by grace.
I'm going to close. I'm going to close. And just
to say, John 1. John 1. Here's a verse of Scripture that
men Just don't understand it. John, Gospel of John, chapter
1, verse 12. John 1, 12. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on Him. which were born, not of blood,
nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God, as many
as received Him." As many as God Almighty by His Spirit poured
Himself into them and gave Himself to them. They received Him. They
received Him, not by their will, not by blood, not by the will
of the flesh, but by the grace of God, the power of God. He that getteth understanding
loveth his own soul. He that keepeth understanding
shall find good. He that keepeth understanding
of who God is, who Christ is, and who we are. He that keepeth
understanding. A believer knows, I am what I
am by the grace of God. I know that. I know if He doesn't
keep me, I won't be kept. I know that. I know that. He
that gets understanding loveth his own soul. He that keepeth
understanding shall find good. Psalm 18.2 says this, The Lord
is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my
strength, and whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my
salvation, and my high tower. The believer who finds Christ,
who finds wisdom, loves his own soul. And he that keeps understanding
shall find good. That which is good for him now,
that which shall be good for him eternally, for Christ's sake.
Amen.