Alright, now let's go back there
to Exodus chapter 8. And I want to read that again. When the Lord saw that Pharaoh
hardened his heart after he had removed the frogs. We read in
verse 16, And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch
out thy rod and smite the dust of the land. Smite the dust of
the land. that it may become lice throughout
all the land of Egypt. And they did so, for Aaron stretched
out his hand with his rod and smoked the dust of the earth.
And it became lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the
land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians
did so. Those were Pharaoh's counselors. They were his religious men. And they did so with their enchantments
to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice
upon man and upon beast. And then the magician said unto
Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was
hardened, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Now we've been looking here at
how God uses his enemies to accomplish his purpose of saving his people
and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord even uses his
enemies to accomplish his purpose. Pharaoh is a picture of the devil. The Egyptians here are these
magicians here, pictures of false preachers. The Egyptians are
a picture of their followers who are false brethren. And we see in this, the main
point we see in this is that God, when He has accomplished
His purpose using false preachers and false brethren, then God
stops them from proceeding further. And He exposes their folly to
His people so that none of His elect shall be deceived. When
He's finished working His purpose with them, He stops them so that
they can proceed no further. And He reveals, exposes that
they are false to His people. So none of His elect will ever
be deceived. Look over at 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy
3. Our text here is dealing with
those magicians, Janus and Jambres. And you know 2 Timothy 3. I want
you to see this again, 2 Timothy 3.8. It says, Now as Janus and
Jambres withstood Moses, so do these reprobate men, these false
preachers, also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further. For their folly shall be manifest
unto all, as theirs also was." It is manifest to God's people. Their folly is manifest to God's
people. So I have titled this message,
Procession Ended, Folly Manifest. Now first of all, we have a warning
to all people. In verse 16, the Lord said unto
Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust
of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land
of Egypt. Now you might read that and say, well, where's the
warning in that? Well, the warning in that is that God did not give
a warning. Before, every time that He poured
out a plague, He gave a warning. But right here, He didn't give
a warning. Pharaoh had hardened his heart. Pharaoh had asked
for Moses to call upon God and take the frogs away. And Moses
did that. I mean, yeah, Moses did that.
And God took them away. And as soon as Pharaoh saw there
was respite, he hardened his heart. And immediately, God gave
no warning to him. God just told Moses and Aaron
to smite the dust and bring forth these lice. You know, if there's an unbeliever and
he's yet under the gospel of God's grace, and he's at least
hearing the gospel, he's got one thing going for him. God's
still sending him the warning. God's still sending him the warning. This gospel you hear preached
is the warning to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ now while it's the day of grace. Because keep hardening
the heart, keep seeing respite in your life and in judgments
that come and go. When you see respite, you go
back to hardening your heart again, have no interest. If a
man does that continually, without warning, God will harden him
for good and leave him in reprobation. This is the warning. You're getting
the warning. That's something you still have.
You're still hearing the warning. When God's removed a man, there's
no more warning. God said through Solomon, He
that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. And that without remedy. In Zechariah
7.11, they refused to hearken, pulled away the shoulder, stopped
their ears that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts
as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words
which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former
prophets. And therefore, Therefore, because
they hardened their heart, because they closed their ears, made
their hearts like stone, therefore came a great wrath from the Lord
of hosts, therefore it has come to pass that as He cried and
they would not hear, so they cried and I would not hear, saith
the Lord of hosts. This would be the end of all
sinners were it not for the grace of God. This would be the end
of every sinner right here if it were not for God's irresistible
sovereign grace that comes and gives His child a new heart and
a willing heart in the new birth to cast all our care on Christ.
Someone will say, well, if I can't believe except God give me a
new heart to believe, then how can God find fault because I'm
not resisting His will then? Well, God through Paul answered
that question. Let's see in Romans 9. Romans
chapter 9. Verse 17. Scripture saith unto Pharaoh,
Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might
show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? If he has mercy on some, and
it's his mercy that makes us believe, and on others who won't
believe, who can't believe, he hardens their heart, then how
can he find fault with me? He's saying, I can't do anything
except what God Permits me to do or makes me to do, so how
can He find fault with me? Look at the answer, verse 20.
Nay, O man, who are you to reply against God? See, that's finding
fault with how God does things to make that question. And who
am I to question God? Who am I to make a complaint
against God in how He does things? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor? You see how simple
God teaches us? That's a simple illustration.
You and I, if we're making something, pot out of a lump of clay, you
take that lump of clay and you use a portion of it to make you
a beautiful pot and the rest of it, you do with it what you
will. Can God not do the same thing with you and with me? You
see, by leaving some men to their will, the hardness of their heart,
God manifests to those on whom He has mercy just what rich grace
He has shown to you. Look here in Romans 9.22. What
if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured... Right here, take out the words
with much longsuffering. Take it out of that phrase right
there. Look, this is how it should read. What if God, willing to
show His wrath and to make His power known, endured the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction? And that, now here you add it,
with much longsuffering he might make known the riches of his
glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto
glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles. The reason I said make that change
is God just endures the reprobate. But Peter tells us the longsuffering
of God ends in salvation. God's longsuffering towards His
people. He just endures the reprobate. But by enduring the reprobate
and by showing much long-suffering to His leg, God makes us behold
that we too would have been just like Pharaoh and every other
hard-hearted sinner had God not had mercy on us. Because that's
our natural state. That's our natural state. When
we see what He did for us, we see the riches of His glory in
that He chose to have mercy on us. You see, when God turns things
right side up, you quit blaming God and replying against God,
then you see you're no different from Pharaoh. You're no different
from everybody else. And yet, God's had mercy on you.
Then you stop blaming God. You will stop blaming God then,
won't you, brethren? That's when you'll start seeing
the riches of His glory, that He had mercy on you. You'll see
the riches of His grace that He sent His only begotten Son
to afford to do everything necessary to prepare you for glory. And then He comes and calls you
and teaches you, the work is all done. You've been prepared
for glory. And when He does that, you see
by the fact that He hardens some and only has mercy on some. He
uses that to show you what great riches He's shown you. He doesn't
show them to everybody, but He has to some. That is the only
way you are going to stop and I will stop replying against
God and finding fault with how God does things. As long as we
are crying unfair, unrighteous and calling God those names,
we are lost. Our heart is hard and we are
just blaspheming God and His work. When He makes you see your
sin, And you see that maggot over there that you've been exalting
yourself over, you're lower than he is. Then you'll start loving
mercy. Isn't that right? So brethren,
when you behold men perishing under a false gospel, you try
to witness to men, they won't hear you, they rebel against
you, they accuse you, whatever it is, Don't look down on them
and don't make your boast of yourself because you and I are
no different from them. God alone has made you to differ
by His grace. So I pray now, I do, I hope today
God will send this warning and make you hear this warning. That
there will come a day for those who keep heart in their heart
and God won't give them a warning. Suddenly, God will turn them
over and it will be without remedy. But that same God, because He
will, He has mercy on some. And He can do that because He
is God. That is what makes Him God. That very truth makes Him
to differ from every other so-called God that men have ever invented. Isn't that right? He's the only
God that can actually do with His own what He will. No other
God can do that. Men make God's like to themselves.
And they don't let Him do anything but what they let Him do. Not
God. God does what He will. Now secondly,
if we reject Christ, a man will be left under the curse of the
law. To reject Christ is to be left under the curse of the law.
Now look here in verse 17. Aaron stretched out his hand
with his rod and smoked the dust of the earth. That's important.
He smoked the dust of the earth. That's said repeatedly here.
And it became lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the
land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. What does
that signify? This dust being smitten represents
the curse. That's what it represents. And
lice coming from that cursed ground represents the dust of
our flesh, our mortal, carnal, fleshly man. And the sin, the
defiling sin, it comes from us. That's all we are by nature is
a curse. You remember when God pronounced the curse upon Adam
and upon all his offspring. What did God say? He said, curse
it is the ground for thy sake. He said, dust thou art. You're the dust and under the
dust shalt thou return. And so when you see, you see
we all come forth dust, cursed. When you see this rod smiting
that dust, it's a picture of God smiting a man in justice
and turning him over to reprobation so that he'll never ever bring
forth anything but the lice, the defiling lice of sin and
corruption. And it will defile everything
he touches. That's to be left under the curse of the law. You
see, the good news is, our gospel is, that Christ came forth according
to God's eternal purpose and redeemed a people from the curse
of the law. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Whenever God laid the iniquity
of all His people, He took the iniquity off His people and laid
the iniquity on Christ. And when He did that, the rod
of God smote Christ in justice rather than smiting His people.
That's substitution. That's our gospel. That's how
God magnified and upheld His justice. He poured it out on
Christ instead of on His people. So now what we're doing is we're
going forth and we're declaring, brethren, that the chastisement
of our peace was upon Christ and with His stripes we're healed. Everybody for whom He died are
healed. And by declaring this gospel,
we're waiting on God to call out through this gospel those
that Christ healed. And make them know in the court
of their conscience that they're healed. That's what we're doing
through this gospel. That's why we're here. That's
why we don't twist people's arms and try to get them to make a
false profession and all these things. That's why we don't tell
everybody without exception, God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. It's because those God loves,
God sent His Son and redeemed them from the curse of the law
and God will call them out and will bring them to faith in Christ
and show them that His love is a saving love. He loves a particular
people that He chose and gave His Son for. And those are the
ones He's calling out. So we just wait on God to call
them out. He's promised He'll do it. He
did it to me. He's done it to you who believe.
And we trust He'll continue to do it until He's called the last
one. So we don't change this method. We just preach Christ
to people. Yet, all who will not believe,
all who will not believe, all who harden their heart and shut
up their ears and turn their shoulder to this gospel, every
sinner who will not believe on Christ, the judgment of God smiting
here that we see pictured here is God turning that man over
and leaving him under the curse of the law so that one day, Certainly,
without a doubt, one day that man shall bear the same smiting
of justice that Christ bore, but he'll bear it himself. Look
to Christ. He said, is there any sorrow
like unto my sorrow in the day that God afflicted me? You see
that suffering, you see what He bore. Without Christ, that's
what every sinner is going to have to bear. without Christ. The curse of the Lord is in the
house of the wicked. The wicked are those who just
will not believe on Christ. Proverbs 3.33, the curse of the
Lord is in the house of the wicked. Left under the curse. Listen,
we left under the curse. Just like these lice kept coming
up from the dust and came upon everything in Egypt. Left under
the curse, our sin corrupts our very best religious deeds. Just like it corrupts everything
else about us. The Egyptians, they had this
vain religion. You know, all religions copy
the true religion of God to a certain degree. And they did. Egyptians did. In their vain
religion, they offered blood sacrifices. These beasts that
he mentions here, that these lice came upon, had to do with
the fact that they offered beasts. They offered blood sacrifices.
And the lice coming upon men here, and all men, means that
the lice also came upon their priests that offered those sacrifices
for them. But now, like unto God's true
religion, The priests would not offer to their idol God any beast if they themselves
were corrupt or if that beast was corrupt. They wouldn't offer
to their God. So see, by these lies, God smites
the earth. And these lies come forth upon
all men and upon all their beasts. And by that, God shut their religion
down. He shut it down. And what happened
was, by that, Pharaoh was left without a priest and without
an offering. And that, my friends, is the
curse. To be without a high priest and
without an offering. That's the curse. Because Christ
is the only high priest, and He's the only offering that will
cleanse His people from our sin, and God will only receive us
through faith in Christ, that one high priest and that one
offering. So if we reject Him, all our religion is defiled.
We have no high priest. We have no offering. And we'll
never have one if we reject Christ. Go with me to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. And look at verse 26. If we sin willfully after that
we've received the knowledge of the truth, that is, if after
you've heard this gospel of Christ preached, you willfully turn
your back on it and say, I'm not going to believe that. I'm
not going to go hear that. I'm done with that. If that happens,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for your sins. But, here is what
does remain, a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith the Son of God was sanctified,
an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace."
How much more worthy will that man be? Read on. For we know him that
hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. Now get this last phrase. It's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That's why Paul said, knowing
the terror of the Lord, knowing that it's such a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God, we persuade men. And that's what I'm doing here
today. I'm telling you, if you reject Christ, if you reject
Christ, after you've heard this gospel
and you turn your back on it and you walk away, there is no
more offering for sin. Christ is the only high priest,
He is the only offering God will receive. You reject Him, you
reject it all. And now you can be religious,
you can bring all the offerings you want to bring, and you can
go to a priest if you want to. It will all be defiled just like
that life has defiled those men and those beasts. All your religion
will be defiled. There is no more high priest,
no more offering but Christ only. Reject Him and you remain under
the curse. And you shall bear that smiting
of God's divine justice that Christ bore for His people. But
brethren, the good news for you that believe on Christ, for you
that have come to Christ and cast all your care into Him,
this is our hope right here. Christ has already borne that
away for us. We are never going to be smitten by the rod of God's
justice because Christ has ended that for us. We are going to
be received. We are received now and we are
going to be received forever. Isn't that good news? You know,
I have said this over and over again. It proves the insanity
of unbelief, the insanity of the natural heart for a man not
to believe on Christ when he knows this to be so. That is insanity. Can you think
about when men start to get, you know, when youíre young,
youíre in your 30s and your 40s, youíve got, imagine youíve got
a long life ahead of you and these things donít bother you
too bad. Can you imagine when you start drawing near 70, 75,
80, and you know, not much more time. And what I heard way back there,
I'm fixing to face it. Can you imagine that? Well, lastly, Christ with His
mere finger stops the false preacher when his purpose is accomplished.
He stops false religion, the preacher and the people, when
his purpose is accomplished. Look at verse 18. And the magicians,
these are representing the false preachers, they did so with their
enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there
were lice upon man and upon beast. And then the magicians said unto
Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. What are they talking about
when they say this is the finger of God? You see, the reason they
were able to imitate what Moses and Aaron did before is because
God actually does allow Satan to work in men to do things that
they otherwise couldn't do. But when God's finished with
that, with His finger, He casts out the devils and He stops it. Without that wicked being under
the power, the prince of the power of the air, men wouldn't
be able to do what they're doing. And he cast out that devil. And then they're exposed to be
just shams. They can't really do what they
claim they could do. How did Christ say He cast out
devils? He said, ìIf I, with the finger
of God, cast out devils...î How did they say this? What did they
say this was? This is the finger of God. Christ said, ìIf I, with
the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is
come upon you.î You see, with His finger, Christ stopped Jannes
and Jambres. He stopped them. and He manifests
their folly to His people. Just what we read in 2 Timothy
3. That's what He did right here. That's what this is referring
to. 2 Timothy is referring to this moment right here. Why did
Christ not stop them before? Why didn't He stop them before?
When they say this is the finger of God, they're not talking about
the dust, the lice and all that. They're talking about the fact
that they can't do this anymore. They can't imitate anymore. That
spirit that they called a godly spirit that was making them do
what they were doing, wasn't a godly spirit. It was a wicked
spirit. But He cast it out. And then
they couldn't do it. And by that same finger of God,
He made them confess, this is the finger of God. Why didn't He stop them before?
Because God uses false preachers to harden the hearts of sinners. That's what He does. I'll give
you an example of this. How many times have you heard
men who have experienced some charlatan preacher who is just
trying to get money out of people or just trying to, you know,
whip them and you know how they do. And so he has experienced
that. And so now if he hears the truth,
he won't believe it because he just lumps all preachers in together
in the same lump and says they are all just like that one I
dealt with. I don't have anything to do with religion at all. How
did he get that hard heart? God accomplished His purpose
of using even the false preacher to harden the heart. And God will harden the heart
of the reprobate against the truth. And that's why He allowed
Satan to give these magicians that power. You see, every time
Moses and Aaron would come forth, that rod of God is a picture
of the gospel. And those things that they would
do through that gospel is a picture of what God does, the miracles
of grace God works through the gospel. And in this case, a picture
of the judgment He works through the gospel, making it a savor
of death unto death unto some. But every time that they did
the same thing, it made Pharaoh and the Egyptians think they
were the true prophets, and Moses and Aaron were just imitating
them, or were the false prophets. And it soothed Pharaoh and his
magicians in their rebellion against God and His Gospel and
His messengers when they would see these magicians do it. And
God was using this. God said from the beginning He
was going to harden Pharaoh's heart because Pharaoh had hardened
his own heart. And so God used these magicians
to further harden Pharaoh's heart against hearing the Gospel. But
when it came time then to stop it, Now, we're going to go on
and we're going to see God's going to give some more warnings
and He's going to do some more things because He's teaching
us some other things until the day He delivers Israel out of
bondage. But right here, what we have a picture of is when
God's purpose is accomplished. And at this point, I believe
at this point, this is where, because there was no warning
here, this is the point at which God had hardened Pharaoh's heart
to the point of no return, right here. Because that's what you
have pictured here. Being left under the curse. Suddenly
without warning. That's what you have pictured.
And when God is done with a man using him to harden, or whatever
he's accomplishing, when he's done with that false preacher,
God's going to stop him. He's done with him. And he's
going to expose him as a false preacher. And that's what he
did right here. The magician said, they said
to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. You know why He brought
them to say that? You know why He brought them
to speak this in truth? Scripture says, Out of thine
own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. By thy words,
Christ said, thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned. Since God uses a false preacher
to harden men's heart, they won't believe even when they hear the
truth. Even when they hear the truth, they won't believe it.
Pharaoh here, he heard the truth. But when they said this to him,
it says, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not
unto them as the Lord had said. You know, the magicians were
false, Pharaoh was false, but they were in agreement against
Moses and Aaron. We've seen this. False preachers
and false brethren that can't stand one another and preach
against one another, they will unite together against God's
true preacher and the Gospel. They had because they have a
common enemy. And men did this with Christ. You had Pharisees,
Sadducees, Nicolaitans, Romans, Jews, all hated each other. But they all came together when
they had the common enemy of the Prince of Life. And they
agreed to crucify Him. It all came together. But then
when God has accomplished His purpose, you know what will happen? These men will reject one another
and fall out with one another. I always tell people when you
see somebody raise up in rebellion and start trying to lead away
disciples after themselves, I always tell people, just give it time.
They will fall out with one another in a little while. And usually
they do. Usually they start dividing amongst
themselves. And that's God's work and His
will. All this came to pass as the Lord had said. As the Lord
had said. Doesn't that give you comfort,
brethren? There's so much falsehood in the world and sometimes you
see a professing believer in danger of it. You know what gives
you comfort? What gives you comfort is when
God's accomplished His purpose with that falsehood, He's going
to stop it. And He's going to expose it. And His elect are
not going to be deceived by it. That's comfort. That's comfort. There's three things here that
He did here that God did concerning Christ. Three things. Number
one, He used false religion to accomplish His purpose of putting
Christ on the cross. It was false religion that put
Christ on the cross. He said, ìOf a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.î Thereís
the religion, false religion. ìThey gathered together for to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done.î He used falsehood to accomplish His purpose of putting
Christ on the cross. Number two, out of their own
mouths, they condemned themselves. And God worked that. I'll give
you an example. All the chief priests, mocking,
said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others, Himself
He cannot save. That's the gospel of substitution.
He saved others and because He was saving others, He couldn't
save Himself. He could not come down off that
cross. He had to bear the justice of God if He would save others.
They didn't mean to say the Gospel, but out of their own mouth they
preached the Gospel and condemned themselves for not believing
it. Just like Janice and Jambreece did. This is the finger of God.
But they didn't believe God. They didn't cast themselves on
the mercy of God. They condemned themselves out of their own mouth.
And three, those who were in agreement to crucify Christ later
rejected each other and were hardened in their vain religious
works. They went right back to where they were. And God left
them alone. Now let me give you a review
and let me give you one last thing here. First of all, we've
seen here this gospel is a warning to repent and believe on Christ. Heed this Gospel. Heed this Gospel. If you ever find a day when you
don't have a heart to hear this Gospel, and you find yourself
unable to come and hear this Gospel, and you find yourself
not being bothered by not hearing the Gospel, you heard it right
here first. You've been hardened by God in
your sins. God's left you alone. And there
is no remedy. So hear the Gospel now. You know,
God's got to give a man a heart. He's got to give a man a heart.
He's got to give you faith. He's got to give you repentance.
And I'll tell you something, you have something here. I'm
talking to you that don't believe on Christ. You have something
right here that no other people around you
have. God has sent the Gospel right
here where you can hear it. You know what I would do? I would
make every effort to hear it. Because if God saves you, this
is how He is going to do it. I would go home and I would read
the Scriptures. I'd find out where I can get
some good books that will help me, commentary that will help
me understand these Scriptures, and I would give myself to diligently
see if what I'm hearing is so according to God's Word. Because
if God saves you, this is how He's going to do it. But if you
won't walk in the light God's given you, God will take away
even the light He has given. I'm just talking about this In
a sense, it's a natural light in the fact that He's just sent
the Gospel here, though He hasn't quickened you yet. If you won't
even walk in this, He'll take this away from you. He won't
take it away from His people. He'll just lead you out. You'll
be swallowed up in the world, just as real as Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram were. Number two, we saw that a man
that rejects Christ must remain under the curse. Because Christ
is the only salvation. Only high priest, only orphan
reject Christ. There is no more sacrifice for
sins. That's it. He is the last boat when you
are sinking in the ocean. He is the last boat to shore.
You pass Him by and there is no other way to get to shore.
Number three, God is using even the false preacher and his followers
to serve God's purpose. God's manifesting those that
are His, those that He's approved, and those that are not. That's
what He said. There must needs be heresies
that they which are approved might be made manifest. That's
what He's doing. And those who harden their hearts
and refuse to bow, God will see to it that Janice and Jambree
shall proceed no further and that their follies shall be exposed. Because God will not allow His
people to be deceived. Listen to this. And there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets. This is what Christ
said. And shall show great signs and wonders. Sometimes preaching
the gospel. But there is something about
them that makes it false. But it is very, very subtle. But listen to this, in so much
that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Don't you like that phrase, if it were possible? It's not. God won't allow it. He won't
allow it. It's not the Armenian that comes
and is preaching free will, works, religion. That's obvious that
that's works. It's not your, what's that fellow
down there in Houston in the big old auditorium down there
smiling like he's eating Saul Breyers. It's not him. It's obvious
that he's a false prophet. It's the man who preaches Christ. so close to the truth that men
can't detect it being false. Now knowing these things, turn
to 1 John 4. Knowing these things, and I'm
going to end it right here. Knowing these things, we should
give the... Believer, I'm talking to you
now, you and me. We ought to give the utmost diligence
to make sure that what we are hearing preached and what we
are promoting is the gospel of Christ. Look here at 1 John 4.1. Beloved, believe not every spirit... He is talking about preachers.
Every preacher is preaching by a spirit. Believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God. Because many false
prophets are gone out into the world, hereby know you the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist
whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already
is it in the world. You understand this now. A man
can say many true things and some even appear to preach the
gospel of Christ. So much in truth that you just... You can't detect it just without
being diligent about it. But let me tell you something.
A man has ceased preaching Christ when he's using the gospel of
Christ to try to make you believe a
doctrine that he says you can't be saved without believing. When
a man does that, when he tries to make you believe a doctrine
and says you can't be saved without believing this doctrine, even
though he may preach Christ in truth, he ceased preaching Christ. His focus has changed. It's not
Christ anymore. It's that doctrine. And putting it upon, making it
a condition that you have to believe this or you can't be
saved is is works. It's making it to be by work.
No different than unless you're baptized, you're not regenerated.
No different. No different. So we have to give diligence,
don't we? We have to listen. That's the spirit of Antichrist
doing that. I don't want to sit under the spirit of Antichrist
and be promoting that in the world, do you? But God will in time manifest
those that are His. And He will manifest those that
are false and He will end it and He will proceed no further.
He will do that for His people. He will do that for His people.
If He doesn't have a people among them, He will just let them go
on. If He has got a people among them like He had right here under
Pharaoh's power, He is going to stop that man and He is going
to bring His people out. You can just bank on that. That
is something else you can rejoice in too. You see brethren that
are being deceived and led away, have this confidence and know
this. If they are God's elect, I guarantee you what is going
to happen. In God's time, God is going to make it manifest
to them. They are sitting under a false preacher and God is going
to bring them out. They are not going to be deceived.
It just ain't going to happen. Now we can rest in that. This
is what God does. Amen.