The Word of God tells us not
to believe every spirit or preacher that we hear today. 1 John 4
says, Try them. Test them. For many false prophets
or preachers have gone out into the world. Perhaps you listen
to a preacher every Sunday or listen on the internet or the
TV or radio. You need to put them to this
test. In 2 Corinthians 2, if you'll
turn in your Bibles or listen carefully and follow along, Paul
the Apostle gives one all-conclusive mark, or expose, or exposure
of false preachers. And then he gives four marks
of a true preacher, a true preacher sent by God, a man of God. Now, I realize that we say much
on this program about false preachers, and that's because Scripture
does. Scripture says very much about
them. Because there are so many false prophets in the world.
If you'll read the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the
apostles, Peter, John, Paul, all of them give warnings. The
Lord Jesus Christ Himself said many, many false prophets. He said many will come in the
last day. Now here in 2 Corinthians chapter
Paul the Apostle says, we, verse 17, are not as many. We are not
as many which corrupt the Word of God. He said we are not as
many. So he is saying there are many,
many false prophets are going out in the world. Even John said
there are many antichrists, meaning what they're preaching is antichrist. perhaps in the name of Christ.
Many deceivers, Scripture says, evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse. Many are going out into the world.
Now, if your preacher or someone you listen to is a woman, a female,
They are immediately branded as false according to Scripture. Women are not permitted to speak
in the church according to the Scripture. That's found in 1
Corinthians 14, verse 34, says, Let your women keep silence in
the churches. It is not permitted unto them
to speak. They are commanded to be under
obedience, as also saith the law. If they learn anything,
let them ask their husband at home. It's a shame for women
to speak in the church. And also in 1 Timothy 2, It says,
I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the
man, but to be in silence. And in the Revelation chapter
2 verse 20, he rebuked the church there for allowing a woman to
preach, and he called her Jezebel. And so it is with every female
that stands up calling herself a preacher. a pastor of God's
church. They're nothing but a jezebel.
The Lord warns us about them. He says we're not as many. There
are many, Paul said in verse 17. We are not as many which
corrupt the Word of God. This is the conclusive mark of
false prophets. They corrupt the Word of God. They use corrupt versions of
the Word of God. You know, there's so many versions
out there, so many perversions of Scripture that are not God's
Word. There are New King James, there's
the Living Way, the New American Standard, and so forth, which
are corrupt versions of God's Word. There's one version that
was taken from the original Greek and Hebrew text, and that is
the King James Version. So they corrupt the Word of God
by various perversions of Scripture. They corrupt the Word of God
by adding to it or taking away from it. Saying more than God's
Word says. Saying things that God's Word
does not say. Saying things like, God loves
you. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. Jesus loves you.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. Accept Him as your
personal Savior. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say that. Nowhere. They corrupt God's Word
by not saying what it does say. Scripture says God is angry with
the wicked every day. Scripture says God hateth all
workers of iniquity. Scripture talks about God electing
a people, predestinating a people. It talks about reprobation. But they don't bring these things
up. Christ said, I am come not to bring peace, but a sword.
You won't hear that on the airwaves today by false preachers. They
corrupt God's Word by applying God's Word to everyone without
exception. They apply the Word of God which
was written to to God's people, the epistles especially, clearly
written to certain individuals or types of people and gives
them descriptions of them. And yet men and women today,
false preachers and prophets, they apply the Word of God to
every human being without exception. So, they corrupted. In Isaiah
chapter 8, listen very carefully. In Isaiah 8 verse 20 it says,
"...to the Law and to the Testimony." That is the Old Testament and
the New. The Law and the Gospel. If they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them. No understanding. No light in them. In Jeremiah
23 he gives this warning. He says, Harken not unto the
words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain.
They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the
mouth of the Lord. He says, I have heard what the
prophets say, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed,
I have dreamed. Don't listen to anyone who tells
their dream as being the word of God, the truth of God. So
Paul said. In 2 Corinthians 2, we are not
as many which corrupt the Word of God. Now he gives four marks
of true preachers. One of the marks is what they
do not do. We do not corrupt the Word of
God, verse 17 says. We do not corrupt the Word of
God. They are truthful. They are plain. They are plain dealers with the
Word of God. The Word of God is their Their
text, the Word of God, is the Word that they preach, that they're
sent to declare. The message they declare is from
the Word of God, not from their own minds and hearts and thoughts,
but the Word of God. He says, we are not as many which
corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity. As of sincerity. True preachers of the Gospel,
like Paul, are sincerely in this thing. of preaching for one chief
reason, and that is the glory of God, the glory of God, the
truth of God, the honor, the glory of God, to declare who
God is, to declare His truth, the truth of God's Word. They're
not in it for fame, not in it for fortune. This is why all
the prophets were killed, all the disciples but one, John,
were killed for their preaching. They did not tickle men's ears,
scratch men's back. They were not pleasers of men,
but rather those who glorified God. And the second thing that
we sincerely do, true preachers are in this thing for, the glory
of God and the salvation of soul. Not building buildings and fundraising
building programs and making a name for ourselves, or counting
heads, see how many people we can get. But the salvation of
eternal souls, men and women, are going out into eternity,
appointed unto men and women once to die, and after that the
judgment. They've got to face a thrice
holy God. How? They must know the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is why true preachers
preach. We're not as many which corrupt
the Word of God, but as of sincerity, sincerely out to glorify God,
sincerely consumed with the truth of God's Word, His glory, and
the conversion of soul. Number two, he says, but as of
God. We're not as many who corrupt
the Word of God, but as of sincerity and as of God. Paul said, as
though God did beseech you by us. He told young Timothy, if
any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Paul said, as ambassadors of
Christ, an ambassador of a country. He's not elected by the public.
Cabinet ministers are not elected by the public, they're appointed,
and so are the preachers of the gospel, God's preacher. No apostle
ever applied for the job, no prophet ever applied for the
job, but they were called, they were sent. It's not a profession
one decides to take. To pursue. It's not a position
we apply for. It's a calling. As of God. As of God. As ambassadors of
Christ. Sent by God. Now, an ambassador
is one who is sent by a country to a foreign country with a message.
That person is going to tell exactly what the king of that
country, the president, the ruler of that country says. Nothing
more, nothing less. He doesn't go and give his opinion,
but he goes and gives the message that he was given sent by the
king or sent by the ruler of that country. And so it is with
preachers of God, sent by God, as of God. And the next thing
is, he said, in the sight of God. In the sight of God. The
true preacher is conscious of being in the sight of God. He is the one, God is the one
that a true preacher is most conscious of. He who sees all
and hears all. He is conscious of Him and it
is His approval that he seeks. God Almighty. as an ambassador,
again, ambassador of a country, conscious of the King who sent
him, and wouldn't dare leave out anything the King told him
to say. He wouldn't dare interpret what
the King said, but say it exactly as he said it. He wouldn't dare
leave out, add to, or apologize for anything in the King's command,
but stands forth boldly and says, Hear ye, hear ye, thus saith
the King of kings and Lord of lords. A true man of God is unafraid
of men. He's not trying to impress men
and women. He's no respecter of persons. He's not in it for
gain or influence. But he's in it in the sight of
God. And finally, and most importantly,
this is His message. This is His method. This is His
manner. This is what He does. He's a
missionary. He's a messenger. And this is
what He does. in Christ, or of Christ. He said, we're not as many which
corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, as of God, in
the sight of God, speak we in or of Christ. Christ. Jesus Christ is the message of
the true messenger sent by God. Jesus Christ is the message preached
by the true preacher of God. If he's a preacher, that's what
he does. He preaches. And he preaches Christ and Him
crucified. He preaches that Jesus Christ
is God. God manifests in the flesh. He
preaches Jesus Christ is Lord, reigning, ruling over all. He
preaches that Jesus Christ is salvation. Neither is there salvation
in any other name. Any other. For there is none
of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must besay
the name of Jesus Christ." He's the great high priest. He's the
prophet, the only prophet and priest and king. He is the only
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is the
only way to God. He's the only truth of God. He's
the life. He that hath the Son hath life.
He's the only righteousness that God will accept. His works, His
blood, Jesus Christ is the man's message because Jesus Christ
is the Gospel. He's the one and only message
of the true preacher sent by God. So Paul said, we are not
as many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity. As of God, in the sight of God
Almighty, we preach Christ. Or as Paul said, I am determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Try the preachers by these rules. Until next Sunday, good day.