May it please the Lord to bless
us today as we consider his word. Let us turn to the Gospel of
Mark, chapter 13, and we'll read verses 21 and 22. The Gospel
of Mark, chapter 13, reading verses 21 and 22. And then, if
any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, he
is there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. We hear today a lot about fake
news. And there is very much fake news
about in a general way. And it's very obvious from what
the media produce. But there is also a lot of fake
news with regards to the gospel and with regards to the Lord
Jesus Christ. and with regards to the true
life of the Christian in this world today. And we may think
that such a text as this, this morning, is really rather negative. Well, it's not negative because
what we need to observe and to recognize and to come to know
is that we are not following false Christ. We are not following
false prophets, but we are following the true Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as we are able to read of him in all that he's done
in the Word of God. So, in reality, such words that
we read together in this 13th chapter are of course words of
warning But it's good if we can therefore, from these words of
warning, recognise that we are amongst those who are the true
worshippers, who worship God in spirit and in truth. There have always been false
Christs ever since the Lord came upon the earth, and indeed, no
doubt before then, people thought they would pretend to be the
Messiah, and of course we're not. But it's a blessing if you
and I know the true Christ and not a false Christ. And you and
I will know the evidence of that in our own hearts by the work
of the Holy Spirit. And that work of the Holy Spirit
is singular to each one of us individually. There is, of course,
a general blessing and favour, but the work of the Lord is individually
to every one of his people. And so we have this warning before
us this morning, that if any man shall say unto you, lo, here
is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. And of course,
there are many people today who say, well, This, of course, is
the true religion, and this is the true Christ, and this is
how we should operate, and this is how we should worship. Well,
we need to test all these positions and situations with the Word
of God to see whether they agree with the Word of God, because
that is the only sure evidence and testimony to encourage us
that we are following the true Christ, if we have the evidence
that we are following the true Word of God. Because the Word
of God lays down everything that is true. We can be very thankful
that the Word of God does not give us fake news. It's not false. It's true from beginning to end. And as I've often said, the whole
Word of God, it all fits together so very beautifully so very wonderfully
and people try and produce evidence of errors in the Word of God
but it's only because they don't really understand what is being
set forth in the Word of God. The Word of God is one complete
whole and we should be very thankful today that we have the Bible
to read and may it speak to our very souls and may it direct
us to the Saviour, because that really is the whole purpose of
the Word of God, to direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ and,
as we've sung, and Him crucified. A suffering Saviour is what is
suitable to the living Church of God. And as we consider what
the suffering Saviour is, and what he passed through and what
he endured. It is a very different Saviour,
a very different Christ to that which is portrayed in many places
today worldwide. The blessing is to know the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so we have this statement
before us, and then if any man shall say to you, lo, here is
Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. We are not to be sidetracked. We are not to be turned away
from perhaps that which is pleasing to the flesh. There is much so-called
Christianity today which is pleasing to the flesh. But it's not a
blessing to the spirit. And therefore, we are told to
examine these things, to search these things, to study whether
these things are true or whether they are false. And we should
pray earnestly that we are not carried away with the vanity
of much of religion today, which fails and ends so far short of
that which the Word of God sets before us. And so as the Lord
Jesus goes on to tell us, and these are his words, when he
was upon the earth, it's a great warning for false Christs and
false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Well, we can bless God that those
whom God has elected, those whom God has predestinated, those
whom God has chosen, cannot fall away. They are those who the
Lord has graciously and gloriously condescended to die in their
place to take away all their sins. therefore the Blessed Saviour
did not die in vain. He did not shed his precious
blood for no blessing or no purpose. No, that shed blood was for his
people. He redeemed his people. That's why we contend for particular
redemption. The Lord died for those whom
he would save, and not for those who are lost. And so we can see
that there are many today who disagree with such firm and such
sure truth contained in the Word of God, because what they are
endeavouring to do is to really follow a religion of their own
making, a religion of their own understanding, And we could put
it very simply, a religion of works. You see, the true religion
granted to the true Church of God is a religion of grace. Free, unmerited favor. Nothing that we could do to save
our souls. And so, those things which demonstrate
the works of man to redeem their souls are false. and are not
true. And therefore, we should realise
that the devil is endeavouring with all his energy today to
seduce, if it were possible such. And that word seduce really means
to lead astray or to delude. And again, what that really means
is to lead us away from Christ away from the cross, away from
his glory, away from the narrow way. That's the object of the
evil one who is endeavouring to seduce the Church of God. Well, he never will. And bless
God, therefore, if we have our confidence in our God. We read in an earlier verse,
verse 13, which tells us, And ye shall be hated of all men.
Because, you see, we are not depending on what we've done.
Bless God if we're depending on what He's done. And ye shall
be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. So let's be very clear
about that. That means there is an enduring
in the life of the true Christian right until they breathe their
last breath. Until the end. But bless God,
all of those who are in Christ Jesus will endure until the end
because they are saved with a great and glorious salvation. So let us not then be seduced,
let us not be led astray by those who pretend to be true followers
of a despised and crucified man. You see the reality is really
set before us of true religion by the Apostle Paul when he testified
of what following Christ really meant. And it's a very different
picture that the Apostle sets before us to what many today
would set before the deluded people in order to turn them
away from the things of God, indeed to seduce them. You see, The Apostle who had
a wonderful background, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel,
and of course he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. And he tells us this, what things
were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. He was very
willing therefore to give up all those things which were of
the flesh and to depend upon those things which the Lord had
given to him, that blessed gift of eternal life." And he goes
on to say, "'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law. One of the things
that the Apostle Paul did, and if you follow through the word
of God on Paul's life, he was wonderfully blessed in so many
ways, being able to preach the gospel and blessed through preaching
the gospel, perform those miracles by the grace of God. And yet
you see, he counted all these things, but lost that he might
win Christ and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship
of his sufferings, be it made conformable unto his death."
You see, the Apostle knew the benefit and the blessing of being
truly united the Lord Jesus Christ. And how many people today fail
to realise the wonderful blessing, as the Apostle says, of the fellowship
of his sufferings and being made conformable unto his death. Well this really is the central
theme the true Christian, because the central theme should be that
through their life, through their communion, through their union
with the Lord Jesus Christ, it produces not glory to themselves,
but glory to God, the glory to the Saviour. You see, that which
is false, that which is of the flesh, produces glory to the
flesh, and such want glory to the flesh. They boast in what
they are doing. They boast of what they have
done. They don't boast of the Saviour. They don't boast of
what the Blessed Saviour has done in order to redeem their
souls. There's no real evidence of being
born again of the Spirit. There's no real evidence that
they are a different person, a changed person. There's no
real evidence of the love of Christ in their hearts and their
love to the crucified Saviour. And so we see here the reality
of true religion and it compares so oppositely with that which
is false. And so we are not to believe
that which is false, we are to trace out in the Word of God
that which is good and that which is right. Now of course this
chapter really runs through the situation which develops as we
come to the end of time, as we come to the end of the things
of this earth, when time shall be no more, when there will not
be again, this earth as we know it, it'll all be destroyed, it'll
all be burnt up, and there'll be a new heaven and a new earth. And in the epistle of Timothy,
in the third chapter, the apostle really gives us a little picture
of the truth. Not that which is false, but
that which is true. concerning the situation which
really if we analyze it we're living really in days like this
because he tells us in this third chapter the second epistle of
Timothy this know also that in the last days perilous times
shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous
boasters proud blasphemous disobedience of parents unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness but denying the power of from such turn away."
Well, if we have an unbiased mind, I'm sure we can read such
a statement as that and say, well, how accurate that is of
the day in which we live. What a sad day it is, for the
most part, and that is a description of our nation and description
of many nations in the world today. And it's a very sad position,
but it's very true. And of course, the devil will
tell us, well, you know, that's not really true. Really, things
are not bad. They're really quite good. And
we can do this and we can do that. And, you know, we must
always carry on enjoying the things of time or the things
of the flesh. The reality is there is no crucifixion
of the flesh. There's no turning to truly serve
the Lord God. There's no true desire to enjoy
that fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. The reality is that
the true Christian is blessed with the union with Christ in
his sufferings. The Lord leads his people in
a way that brings them into such a path. And the Lord knows what
is required to do that in each of our lives. And people sometimes
think it's going to be some physical problem, some great difficulty
in their body. It may not be at all. It may
be something which they have to contend with in their mind.
It may be something which is abhorrent to them, and yet the
devil tries to make attractive. And we should always remember
that the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in all points, like as
we are, yet without sin. And so as we come into perhaps
those mental situations which are a problem to us, we must
realise that the Lord suffered that way as well. The Lord of
course we know suffered physically very much, but we should not
just try and slim down the picture to only physical sufferings. Now I'm sure in the day and age
in which perhaps we live, there are less physical sufferings
than there were years ago because of the comfortable lives that
many people are able to live in warm places, etc. And of course,
with all the medical equipment and ability to take those medicines
which are suitable, in one sense there is less of the physical
sufferings. nonetheless the word of God is
still true, the word of God is still right, fellowship with
Christ's sufferings may not necessarily be physical. So we should not
therefore think, well of course I've got a healthy body, be very
thankful for that. But it may of course be with
regard to an afflicted body, which brings us also into the
sufferings of Christ and that fellowship. And therefore it
is really a very wonderful evidence of the true state of our Christianity
to be found in fellowship with Christ. You see, much we make
perhaps of fellowship today, fellowship with Christ, is very
important. But it's fellowship all through.
It's not just put to the things which we might think are good
and wonderful and joyful. They are, but also on the other
side. There are those times of fellowship
with his sufferings. And I think I would be right
in saying that the times of true union and true blessing emanate
from fellowship with his sufferings, because that brings us in really
to the preciousness of our salvation. It brings us to realise what
the Saviour endured to redeem our soul. Now such things are
not false. Such things are true. Such things
will not lead us astray. We won't be deluded, we won't
be seduced by such things. What will they do? They'll bring
us into that communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we should
be quite clear about this, that Christians don't go out of this
world without in measure knowing something of union and communion
with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a test of the reality of
our religion, so that we are amongst those whom the Lord has
chosen, has redeemed, has demonstrate it to them what unworthy sinners
they are to receive any mercy, to show how they deserve to be
cast out, to not be taken any notice of. And yet what rejoicing
there is to know that Lord Jesus has taken notice of us. He has
heard our cries. He has heard our prayers. He
hasn't turned away from us, but He has come and come to us where
we are. The Lord does know where we are
in our spiritual life. No one else knows really where
you and I are in our spiritual life. We may make an assessment,
we may make an assumption, and we may be far from the mark,
The Blessed Saviour knows exactly where we are, and exactly what
we need, and exactly what will do us spiritual good. And we should never therefore
draw a conclusion that someone is walking that path and someone
else is walking that path. We only can observe what we see
outwardly. The heart knoweth its own bitterness,
and no one can intermeddle with its joys. It's between the soul
and God. Now that is not false. That is
true. And so, what a blessing when
people may pretend that, well, we're following a false Christ. We have the evidence in our hearts
that we are following the true Christ, the blessed Saviour of
sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this third chapter in the
second epistle of Timothy is in actual fact worth reading.
It's not very long. I won't read it all this morning,
but you can go home and you can read it. Second of Timothy, the
third chapter. Because, just to a couple of
verses I'll read further on, verses 12 and 13. Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Well, we don't need a dictionary
to understand what that means. And that's what it says. It doesn't
say, yea, and some that live godly. No, it doesn't say that.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecutions. So those who come and say, no,
here is Christ, lo, he's there, look, it's a wonderful life,
and everything is beautiful in the garden, and there's no problems,
and I'm happy all day long, you have to question the reality
of such a testimony of such a religion. Because the apostle who knew
very clearly the truth of God in his own heart, is able to
direct us very succinctly in such a statement as this, yet
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Well that's the world in which
we live. And you only have to look around
naturally. I was considering the other day,
in the Far East, they have these vast congregations. One area, I think it was 300,000.
Tremendous congregation. But were they worshipping the
true Christ? Were they pretending to worship
the true Christ, but the reality was they were worshipping a Christ
of their own imagination. They were not really worshipping
a despised and crucified man. You see, the true believer recognises
the weight of sin in their own heart. Now I know there is of
course great joy when sin is forgiven, and I'm not speaking
against that. But nonetheless, sin is a burden. And it drags us down. And it keeps us low. But also it makes us cry to God. And then how we rejoice. when
that blessing is granted to us. And it's described in the psalm,
the secret of the Lord is with them that know him and he will
show them his glory, his salvation, his righteousness. The Lord shows
his people personally, directly, individually. And that's a time
for rejoicing. And I'll tell you what it is.
it's a holy rejoicing. It's a holy rejoicing to realize
that the Blessed Lord has looked upon us and has not dealt with
us as our sins deserve. Well, I'll leave that chapter
in in Timothy. You can meditate on it, it's
worth pondering in a day and age in which we live such a difficult
time, such a difficult world and not getting any easier and
not getting any better we're not promised it will do and the
Apostle Paul also when he wrote to the Ephesians and in the fourth
chapter he tells us this verse 18 having the understanding darkened
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who,
being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so
learned Christ. Have we learned Christ? If so
be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the
truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness, And again, the apostle goes through a list then
of things which we are to put off. But he also says, neither
give place to the devil. That's almost a sweeping up statement,
isn't it? Neither give place to the devil. See, if we possess a false religion,
we will have room for the devil. We allow him to come in and we
will be following that which is false Christs and false prophets,
we shall give room for that which is of the flesh and not of the
spirit. Well, what a blessing for us
today if we have the evidence therefore in our hearts of the
work of God and the union to the Lord Jesus Christ and that
union which is centered in his great sacrifice upon Calvary's
cross when he died to take away our sins. When he died upon that
cross, what a wonderful thing it was to think that the Lord
Jesus Christ gave his life, his life, his holy life, his precious
life, his sin atoning life, that you and I might be blessed with
the forgiveness of all our sins. You see, the Apostle tells us
what will happen. He tells us that you may be mindful,
this is Peter in his second epistle, third chapter, that you may be
mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
and at the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and
Saviour. Know this first, for they shall
come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts,
and how many scoffers there are today who scoff at the reality
of true religion. They scoff at it, they mock.
Bless God, therefore we have the evidence that we are amongst
those. Because those say, where is the
promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, By the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water,
whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. He goes on and says, But, beloved,
be ye not ignorant. Be not ignorant. You see, we
are blessed today with the truth of God's Word. It's not false. Many people don't really read
the Bible very much. And they conclude things in accordance
with their own mind. Things which suit their own understanding. Because they don't want, they
don't want a religion which follows a despised and crucified man. They have no time for such a
situation. But bless God today, if you and
I have been given grace. Perhaps it comes in this way.
The goodness of God leads us to repentance. The goodness of God. It's not
the anger of God, perhaps, toward us, which we deserve. It's to
realise the Lord hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve. We haven't been cut off. We haven't
been cut down. The Lord has dealt with our souls
in love. The goodness of God leads us
to repentance. That's what Paul wrote when he
wrote his epistle to the Romans. My friends, it's a very true
statement. It's a very wonderful position to be in, as we acknowledge
God's goodness toward us. It causes us then to turn to
Him in godly repentance, in true sorrow for sin. So that's when
our hearts are touched. That's when we are moved to realise
how kind and gracious God has been in not dealing with us as
our sins deserve. Now then, there are many false
Christs and false prophets who don't understand the truth of
such words. Perhaps they never read them
in the Word of God. They have a very small Bible.
But bless God if the Holy Spirit has come and touched our hearts. given us to realize the wonderful
reality of these truths. And again, in the Apostle Paul
to the Romans, he directs us to many, many wonderful truths,
really. But in the in the 10th chapter
and the second verse, he said, for I bear them record. He's
speaking about my he says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them
record that I have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
Well, Paul is addressing therefore Israel as it was in his days,
but it's really addressing us today with regard to the many
who have a false religion. He says, For they, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Well, it would be a favour for
us today if we have submitted ourselves unto our God, confessed
our sins, confessed our shortcomings, confessed how we failed so often
and recognised that we have no righteousness ourselves and we
are utterly dependent upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. she gives to all his people,
to all his church. Now you see, the devil will endeavour
to seduce us. So these things are not necessary,
these things are not important, and in any event, there's plenty
of time yet before you're going to die, so you needn't worry
very much about them. What a good thing when the Holy
Spirit works in our hearts, that the things of God become the
most relevant, the most important. And it's a favour if you and
I are able to come in with a hymn writer and say, I could from
all things parted be, but never, never Lord from thee. Now that's not from the devil. Bless God if it's from the Spirit
of God to our hearts. And the Lord moves us to recognise
the wonder of it, the desire to be never parted from the Saviour. You see, those who are following
a false Christ and false prophets, they have a totally wrong view
of heaven at last. They don't recognise the reality
of what the hymn writer says where congregations ne'er break
up and Sabbaths have no end. That's not their idea of heaven.
Their idea of heaven is a worldly one, to enjoy the things of time,
but time will be no more. And so it would be a mercy, a
great mercy if you and I are directed then to the reality
of true religion set forth the Word of God, and especially as
things get worse and worse. And the Lord finally concluded
this chapter we read together with this sentence, and what
I say unto you, I say unto all, watch. We are to watch that we
are following the Saviour, following His Word, doing His will, and
not being sidetracked, not being seduced by the evil one who would
turn us to worldly things and not be prepared to be a follower
of a despised and crucified man. So the Church of God have a glorious
prospect of being with Christ eternally and all the ransomed. Church of God There'll be no
difficulty. There'll be no opposition. There'll
be no anger. All will be peace and calm and
quiet. Praise the Savior. Unity. Nothing to distress us. It's
a wonderful blessing to look forward to. And so as we travel
on through this world, let us beware that we have this warning. And then if any man should say
to you, lo, here is Christ. Well, lo, he is there, believe
him not, for false chriests and false prophets shall rise and
shall show signs and wonders to seduce them, if it were possible,
even the elect. But bless God, not one of his
sheep should ever be lost, and all be safely gathered in to
that eternal place in glory, to be found amongst the true
sheep of God, to enjoy that eternal habitation with the Saviour,
praising Him for what He's done in dying upon that cross at Calvary,
shedding His most precious blood in order that all our sins may
be forever washed away. Amen.