This morning I am reading from
the book of Amos, chapter 8. I am reading verse 11 of Amos,
chapter 8, which reads, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord
God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord." A famine of hearing the words of the Lord, God said. Not a famine of bread, nor thirst
for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Now, we
live in the most prosperous and affluent times in the history
of the world, but I contend that these are the driest times concerning
religion. So-called Christian religion
today is an absolute mockery of the truth, a mockery of the
true God, true Christ, a mockery of God's Word. And I believe,
based upon the Word of God, that the problem is in the pulpit. The problem is with preachers. The woods are full of them, too
many of them. Every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Mary
claims to be a reverend or a preacher. The Lord said it would be so
in the last days. He said many false prophets,
many false prophets shall arise and deceive many. He said, beware
of them, beware of them. He said they would come in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, wolves in sheep's
clothing. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
these false prophets. Well, how can you know them?
How can you tell a false prophet or preacher? Well, I'm reading
now from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter
18, if you want to read this with me. If someone claims to
be a prophet or a preacher, a man of God, speaking for God, If
that person predicts something and it does not come to pass,
then he is false. Did you hear that? If a person
claims to be a prophet or preacher, a man of God speaking for God,
if they predict something and it does not come to pass, then
they are a false prophet or preacher. That's what it says here in Deuteronomy
18. I read verses 21 and 22, and
I quote, If thou say in thy heart, how shall we know the word which
the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the
name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. but the prophet
hath spoken it presumptuously. Thou shalt not be afraid of him."
Listen to him. Do you recall all of the predictions
which were being made around the turn of the millennium? Well,
all who made such false predictions are false. For one to predict
a day of Christ's return That proves them false, immediately
proves them. For Christ himself said, no man
knows the day or the hour. So, false prophecies, false predictions
are proof of false prophets and false preachers. And look at
Deuteronomy chapter 13 with me. Deuteronomy 13. Now, sometimes,
listen carefully. Sometimes these false prophets
or preachers do or say things that do come true. Sometimes
God causes things to happen, that is, signs and wonders, by
a false prophet and preacher to try people, to test who is
following, who is hearing God's Word, or who is just taken up
with a sign and a wonder. Look at this. In Deuteronomy
chapter 13, I read the first three verses. If there arise
among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a
sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof
he spake unto thee? Saying now if he says this, let
us go after other gods which thou has not known. Let us serve
them. Now shout not hearken under the
words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord
your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul. So sometimes a
sign and a wonder comes to pass, such as a healing, a miracle,
a miraculous healing, an unexplained phenomena, which some preacher
seems to have done. And yet, if that prophet or that
preacher tells of a God different than the God of the Bible, then
that prophet or that preacher is false. That's what he says. God is testing, trying to see
who is really listening to God's Word rather than looking at and
taking up with signs and wonder. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah,
chapter 23. God says much of false prophets
in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 23. You see, true preachers, Preach the Word, in season or
out of season. That's what Paul told young Timothy,
the preacher, young Timothy, to do. Preach the Word, in season
or out of season. He said, their time will come
when they will turn away their ears from the truth unto fables. They would rather hear stories
and dreams and see signs and wonders. True preachers preach
the Word. That is what they do. That is
all they do. They do not perform signs and
wonders. Now, listen to me very carefully.
The reason the prophets and the apostles of old performed signs
and wonders, the reason God gave them these powers to perform
signs and wonders was because The word of God was not completely
written yet. And so these signs and wonders,
these miracles performed by these men, these prophets and apostles,
were given by God to open doors for these men to preach the gospel,
to go into a place. And these men would go saying,
we are come from God. Well, how did the people know?
through these signs and wonders, miracles, miracles performed
by them to open doors for them to preach the Word of God, to
prove that they were indeed men come from God. Now, I might add
this, that the miracles which they performed were not bogus
signs such as wheelchairs being thrown away or supposed cancers
being removed, but real wonders, Blind people, I mean people born
blind, were given sight. Dead people raised from the grave. Show me someone today who's actually
healing a person born blind or someone raised from the dead,
and I might believe him. But no, that is no longer needed
today. All of that, all of those signs
and wonders performed by the prophets and apostles were before
the Word of God was complete. Now the Word is complete, and
all men and women have a complete copy of God's Word. And so this
is what a true preacher does now. He preaches the Word. That is all he does. Listen as
I read from Jeremiah 23. I begin. in Jeremiah 23, verse 26. Verse 25, I have heard, God said,
I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my
name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed How long shall
this be in the hearts of the prophets that prophesy lies?
They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think
to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which
they tell every man to his neighbor. And I'm still reading, verse
28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. But he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. Verse 29,
Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer
that breaketh, that rocketh in pieces? God says, Behold, I am
against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every
one from his neighbor. God says, Is not my word like
a fire and a hammer? The word of God, Paul said in
Hebrews 4, is quick, is powerful. And so while false prophets are
telling their dreams and showing their signs, the true preacher
merely says, Thus saith the Lord. He knows what is the power of
God. It's God's word. Let me give you an illustration.
I read a so-called church sign one day, a church sign, which
said this, Come see what's going on. That sums up What is going
on today? Come see. Come see. Come see,
they say. But the true church says this. Come here. Come hear the word
of the Lord. Not come see, but come hear what
God has said. One surefire way to spot the
false is by their bulletin boards. Does a so-called church Have
God's Word on their sign or a clever saying? Thousands and thousands
of verses of infinite wisdom in God's Word, infinite wisdom
of God, the Word of God, which is the power of God, Scripture
says. Yet men esteem their clever little
cliches more highly than God's Word. Well, that's proof right
there. That's proof. And this so-called
God campaign that's going on today, men putting words on billboards
and signing God's name at the bottom of it, words which God
did not say, that's absolute blasphemous proof that they are
false. Anyone who does that or supports
that is false. That is lying on God. Well, how
can you spot a false prophet or preacher? I read from Isaiah
8, verse 20. It says, to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to the word, this word,
it is because there is no light in them. What is the word of
God? Well, he does not say, the word
of God to man does not say, smile, God loves you. Jesus loves you. No, no, no prophet or apostle
ever said that when they preach. True prophets, true preachers
said nothing good about man. God told them in Isaiah chapter
40, he told them, cry this, all flesh is grass, all the goodliness
thereof is as a flower of the field. The grass withereth, the
flower faded. God told them to tell the people
in verse 9 of Isaiah 40, Behold your God, your God, to whom all
nations are nothing. It is He that sits on the circle
of the earth, a God who is God, holy, righteous, just, a just
God first. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Scripture said. Have you ever
heard your preacher say that? Have you ever heard any preacher
quote that verse? The fear of the Lord. Well, Paul
said there is no fear of God before their eyes. In our day,
every man, woman, boy, or girl has the holy name of God on their
tongue. And this tells me that Amos'
prophecy is true. There is a famine of the hearing
of the Word. So many false prophets, dreams,
signs and wonders, very little declaration of God's Word, which
creates the fear of God. Well, may the Lord cause you
to hear His Word this morning. Amen.