I go to Matthew 7. Read verses 15-20. 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. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruits ye shall know them." Now, when I was a much
younger preacher, I was more than ready, willing, even anxious
to deal with false prophets and to denounce them and expose them. The older I get, the more I read
God's Word, I tremble at it rather than being so anxious to deal
with it. The more you look in the mirror
of God's Word while you see other things, you see yourself. You
see your own corruption. And you're more worried about
yourself than you are other people. The more light you have, The
more you grow in grace, the more light you have, the more corruption
you encounter in yourself. So, you know, I read scriptures
about false prophets and they scare me. They scare me. But I do not, you know, I do
want to look closely at God's Word. I do want to examine myself. Scripture says, examine yourself. whether you be of the faith.
Know ye not your own selves? I want to know. Don't you? I want to know if I'm a true
believer. Listen to these verses here.
Our Lord said in John 3, listen to this. He said, Everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light lest
his deeds should be reproved. That's what the light does. It
exposes all the darkness and corruption and all the things.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may
be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. So you come to
the Word, we need as a church to examine, is this the true
church? There's a false church. There
are false converts. There are false professions.
I'm going to look at the house built on the sand today and the
house built on the rock. Their houses, they look similar. And whether one's true or not
is what it's built on, and you can't see that. It's unseen. It's a foundation. Well, I do
want to examine myself, and you need to examine me. Scripture
says, try the spirits, doesn't it? Test them. Our Lord said this. This is his
Sermon on the Mount. These are some of his last words.
His very last words are all warnings. Warnings to his people, to his
sheep. Beware. Be wary. Beware. of false prophets and
be watching, be listening, trying the Spirit, trying the preachers.
Preachers, the profession, so-called profession of preachers is the
only profession, I believe, in the world where there are more
of them than lawyers. There are more of them than lawyers.
And they're more dangerous, a whole lot more dangerous. There's so
much written about false prophets. Would you look at the margin?
If you have a Cambridge Bible, a margin, a reference, center
reference, it says in verse 15, beware of false prophets. You'll
look over in the margin, the little letter, beware. And it
gives, do you see how many scriptures? That's just a few. That's just
a few. But there are about 15 or 18.
actual verses, and that's just a few. Couldn't fit them all
on here. So many. Why does the Lord give
so much warning about false prophets? Well, I'll give you a few reasons.
Number one, there are so many. Because there are so many of
them. Many false prophets have gone
out into the world. The few true are few, and the false are many. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, basically,
was it, wasn't it? There were 70 judges, but that
was it. How many of Pharaoh's wise men
were there? How many of the sons of Korah
were there? Elijah. You remember when Elijah came
to Mount Carmel? He was one man. And there were
450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the groves. That's
850 false prophets and one man. And all the people thought there's
no way that one man could be right and 850 be wrong. That's what the people thought. But they were, weren't they?
They were. So there's so many. So many. That's why. And the reason the
Lord gives so much warning about false prophets is because they're
so subtle. They're so subtle, so deceptive.
Scripture says, evil men and seducers wax worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived. They are
so deceitful, they deceive themselves. That's pretty deceitful and pretty
tricky. And our Lord said this, He said,
Satan, lying signs and wonders and his prophets and so forth,
they bring forth such that what they do is so subtle and so deceptive
that if it were possible, it would deceive the very elect.
We're going to see in a minute how that I know many of you,
if not most, have heard men say some good things. Bad men say some good things. And why does the Lord say so
much about false prophets? Because there's so many, because
it's so subtle, and because it's so dangerous. Beware. It's so dangerous. As I said,
it's a profession that only won more than lawyers, and it's the
only profession without regulations, the only profession without required
credentials. God has them. God's regulating. God has His credentials, but
men don't. There are no tests. There are
no examination boards. There are no judges. They don't
answer to anybody. Anybody and his brother and even
his mother can go out and say, I'm a preacher. And people fall
for them. That's how dangerous they are.
So dangerous. That's why we're told to try
and put them to the test. How? Right here. Right here. Right here. It's
more important who your preacher is than who
your physician is, because it's more deadly. It's
eternal. If you've got a quack doctor
and he kills you, if you believe Christ, then you just go to be
with the Lord. If you've got a quack preacher, you lose your
soul. And why does the Lord say so
much about false prophets? Because He clearly, in the Word,
exposes them. He leaves no doubt to us, His
people. He's not going to let His people
fall a stranger's voice. They're not going to hear it.
And He clearly exposes them, and He proves the truth. He proves
the true ones so that you'll know who to follow. There must
be heresies among you. Listen. There must be heresies
among you that they which are approved might be made manifest. You don't want to follow a false
prophet, but you do want to follow a true one. You must. If you're
a sheep, you will. You have to. That's what sheep
do. God gives unto shepherds. And
people follow them as they follow Christ. You're not following
a man, but you're following his leadership. And if he's pointing
you to Christ, that's who you're following. Not him, but who he's
pointing you to. All right, now look at it. They're
not known outwardly. They're not clearly seen. Look
at verse 15. Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing. Matthew 7 is where we are. Sheep's
clothing, verse 15. They're not known outwardly.
They're not known by their dress. They're not known by their dress,
the way they look. Although, I can pretty much spot one, a free
will preacher a mile away. I can smell him. Can't we, Dad? One time, Brother Cody and I
went to preach for a man. You know who he is down in North
Carolina. A young preacher who was just so ignorant. And he had another fellow come
in from down the street. And boy, Cody and I spotted him
just as soon as we saw him. Another preacher. He had a toupee
on. I knew it immediately. Sham-haired
preachers. Donnie used to preach against,
he'd say when he was in Pentecostal, he'd preach on short-haired women
and sham-haired preachers. Well, anyway. Why did I say that? Why did I
give up on that? Anyway, you can't spot them by their dress,
necessarily, or their speech. The speech. Some of them, their
prayers sound good. They're very moral. They're outwardly
moral. Can't find anything wrong with
their outward life. Can't. But the Lord says they're
in sheep's clothing. Now, this is what our Lord says
is very, very particular, very revealing. In sheep's clothing. That is, they're disguised. They're
wearing a disguise. Our Lord said of the Pharisees
one time, warning the people of the Pharisees, beware of them,
He said, they are whited sepulchers. They look good. But He said on
the inside, full of extortion, dead men boned, whited sepulchers. They look moral. They look upright. They sound sincere. They look
true. But appearances can be deceiving,
can't they? There are millions and millions
of people that follow a little shriveled up man in Rome who
is a wicked, wicked, wicked man, an antichrist. Not the, but an
antichrist. He wears white, he's got a smile
on his face, and he just wouldn't offend anybody for anything.
Such a sweet, sweet fellow. He's an evil man. Look at 2 Corinthians
11. Sheep's clothing. 2 Corinthians
11. This is significant. Verse 13. 2 Corinthians 11, 13
through 15. Such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Eve was deceived by the devil
himself. And incidentally, Adam was not
deceived, Scripture says. The woman was. What is religion
made up mostly of today? That will tell you something.
That will tell you something. It will tell you a lot. Read
on. Verse 15, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness.
Righteousness. Morality. Righteousness. And I'll tell you whose righteousness
they're talking about. They're not talking about Christ. Talking about man's and their
own. But sheep's clothing, here's
something about sheep's clothing. Have you ever... Well, those of you ladies who
knit, some of you knit with wool, lamb's wool. It's real soft,
isn't it? That's the nature of wool, sheep's
clothing. It's real soft and it's oily.
Isn't it? Isn't it, Erlin? It's oily. It's
real soft and it's oily. These men, these false prophets
are soft in their speech, in their manners. They're soft. Women like soft. And they're soft in their doctrine.
They wouldn't dare offend anybody. Wouldn't dare offend anybody.
I've said this before, beware of a man, a preacher whose hands
are softer than your wife. I mean that. He's never hit a
lick in his life. I wouldn't follow a man like
that. Soft, no offense, soft. Smooth words and fair speeches. Good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple. Soft. Hirelings are going to
tell you smooth things. Prophesy unto us soft things,
smooth things. We'll fill your pockets up. We'll
fill that church building up. Just tell us what we want to
hear. Soften the message. Take off the offense. Don't offend
anybody. That's a hireling. It's a hireling. You know what the people said
of the Lord? These are hard things. Who can hear it? The men of Judah. There were the men of Judah and
the men of Israel. And it said of the men of Judah,
their speech was rougher than the men of Israel. People were offended by the true
prophets. They were offended by the true
apostles. They were offended by true pastors
and teachers, but nobody is offended by false prophets except God's
people. Sheep's clothing. Salt. Yet inwardly,
he says, they are ravening wool. Ravening wool. Ravenous. That's
the word. Ravenous. Can't get enough. Ravening
wool. They devour. Our Lord said they
devour widows' houses. In other words, money. is behind it all. That's the
root of all evil. The love of money is the root
of all evil. Raven and wolf. King Saul is
a prime example. We studied 1 Samuel all the way
through, every verse. King Saul was outwardly beautiful. He was a beautiful man, handsome
man, tall, stood head and shoulders above everybody else. The people
loved him. They admired him. He was strong, courageous, up
until Goliath came along. But the people followed him.
They fell for him. He was an evil man. Saul was
an evil man. And it went on. I almost had
you turn, but in 1 Samuel 8, it says, He'll take your sons. He'll take your daughters. He'll
take a tenth of everything. He'll take. He'll take. He'll
take. He'll take. And it says, You'll
be His servants. He won't be your servant. You'll
be His servants. And then David came along. Ruddy. He didn't look like king material.
But what did David do? He's a man after God's own heart.
He gave. He gave. He gave. He didn't take
anything. He gave. He gave. He gave. That's
how you know. Our Lord said, these false prophets
are greedy dogs. They can never get enough. Never
enough. You know them, look verse 16,
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns?
You don't go out in the scrubby thicket in the thorns
and find any grapes. You don't go out into the thistles
and thorns and thistles and find figs. They're on good trees. They're on good vines. fruit
only come from a vine, a good tree. How does he say that false
prophets are known? By their doctrine? Is that what
he said? By their fruits? By their It goes without saying,
really, that if a man came along and preached absolute heresy,
God's people are not going to fall for that. He's warning his
sheep. He's warning his people. He's
warning them. It goes without saying, if a man... You know,
Satan didn't come along and say, I'm the devil. Satan didn't say,
no, I don't believe in God. No, God's Word is not true. No.
He didn't come right out with a lie. No, he said, you'll know them
by their fruits. And he said, a good tree bringeth forth good
fruit. A corrupt tree brings forth evil
fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is shunned down and cast into the fire. The Father
didn't plant it. And it's going to be burned,
and by their fruits you shall know them. By their fruits. All
right, now listen. All right, by their fruits. The
first thing we must ascertain is if that man himself is a good
tree, is a good man. In 2 Timothy, Paul wrote to young
Timothy. He instructed all through 1 and
2 Timothy and Titus in his letter. And he said this to that young
man. He said, a husbandman that laboreth must first be a partaker
of the fruit. He must first be a partaker of
the fruit, partaker of the divine nature. He's got to be born of
God himself. He's got to be born of God, born
of the Spirit, born of the incorruptible seed. What's that? He himself
has to be a sinner saved by grace. This
is what Paul said in writing to the Galatians. He said, I certify, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. I didn't
receive it from man. The gospel I heard and believe
and what I preached to you God told me. God revealed Himself
to me. When it pleased God to separate
me from my mother's womb, He called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. It's a man that is first partaker
of the fruits. It goes without saying, should,
that this man must hear the truth, must hear the gospel and be convicted
of sin himself, be a broken hearted sinner, needing mercy, seeing
Christ as all. Like Peter and James and John
and all of them, they said, we can't help but speak the things
we've seen and heard. So what are they speaking? This
is how you know. Who did they hear? Who are they
talking about? Who are they preaching? Christ.
That's how you know. That's who they heard and that's
who they want you to hear. That's who they saw and that's
who they want you to see. are like. They took notice that
these men had been with the Lord Jesus. They were like Him. They
were like Him. They were once offshoremen, you
know, longshoremen, fishermen, rough, gruff. Man, oh, man. If you'd have known some of our
brethren, including me, before the Lord did anything with them,
you wouldn't have anything to do with them. But they themselves are partakers
of the divine nature. Here's how you'll know, too.
That man will be a sinner. He will be a sinner. He'll never
lose sight of that. And he'll never let you think
otherwise. He'll never let you think he's
anything other than a sinner saved by grace. You'll never
feel uncomfortable around him. A true prophet must himself
first be a member of the church, a true preacher. He himself must
first be a brother, a lover of the brethren. He himself must
be a she, a follower, a follower before he can be a leader. God
doesn't turn out preachers from seminaries. That's not what it
is. No. Just as He chose His Son from
among the people, so does He choose His preachers. They're
just like them, sinners. Saves them by His grace and begins
to mold them, shape them, conform them to the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Now, fruits. Here's the principal meaning.
A good tree brings forth good fruit. A corrupt tree brings
forth evil fruit. Good doctrine? Yes. A good tree
will bring forth good doctrine. Good methods? Yes. But what the Lord is talking
about here more than anything else is converts. People. They came to the Lord one time
and said, Are you saying that? What are you saying? And He said,
Ask them to hurry. You'll know. You'll know by those
that hear them. Ask them to herd me. And a good
tree will bring forth good fruit. He himself doesn't produce it.
I don't have to clarify that. Nobody is saved by anything a
preacher says or does. Nobody is saved by one word that
comes out of a preacher's mouth. They are saved by the incorruptible
seed, by the Word of God. They are saved not by preaching,
but by preaching the Word. It's the Word that saves people.
It's God's Spirit that saves people. It's Christ that saves
people. Paul in 1 Corinthians said, you know, people were getting
in a preacher contest. Oh, we like Paul. We like Apollos.
He said, that's so carnal. What is this, a ball game? Choosing
up sides? This is why I like this fellow.
I like that fellow. Paul said, they're nothing. They're
all a bunch of nothings. Planting and watering, God must
give the entry. Christ died for you. Paul didn't
die for you. No, those men don't do anything.
But they're conduits. They're what the means the Lord
uses. They're the instrument the Lord
uses. We don't despise the instrument. We don't reject the means. We're thankful for it. And God
makes them known. But here's the thing about it. If that man is a true man and
if he's preaching Christ, the people that are saved through
him preaching Christ will show it. They'll reveal it. They'll
be known. They'll be a people that believe
God. They'll believe God's God. Every one of them. They'll know God's God. Did you
read the article All of God's children are taught of God. They're
taught through a man. But no, they're taught by the
Spirit of God. They'll all know that they're
sinners. Boy, will they know that. Because He'll keep reminding
them. Sinners. They'll all see that
Christ is all. They'll all need Christ. This
is just basic right here. Basic. They all see Christ as
their all, all their righteousness, all their hope, all their salvation,
their media, their subject, their everything, their all and in
all. Yes, they will. There will be no doubt whatsoever
in any person's mind and heart whom God puts under a true preacher
what their salvation is or who. No doubt. They will love Christ
and they'll love each other. They'll be like Christ. They'll
be merciful. They'll be loving. They'll be
true. As opposed to those who are ignorant of the true God.
Ignorant of themselves. Ignorant of the Word of God.
Now, I run into them. You do too. People all over who
go this place and that place. If you want to know the man preaching
and what he is, Ask them to hear Him. And you do, and I do, we
run into, we talk to people all the time, and if they're talking
about God like He's a man, that's a false prophet in their pulpit.
Right? If they're talking about Jesus,
that He died for everybody, didn't really save anybody, He wants
to and can't, He tried and He failed, and He's just standing
outside your heart's door, that's a false Jesus. That's another
Jesus, and the man in the pulpit is a false prophet. That's easy. Clearly. You'll know them by
their fruits. You'll know them by their fruits. Now, Brother Greg Elmquist and
I went to a place that was supposed to have been a grace church.
And I'm leading into a really solemn question here. We went
to a place that was supposed to be a grace church, and the
leading Now understand me here, I wouldn't want to offend anybody,
but the leading men in that church, all of the leading men sat on
the very back row, just as far as they could get
away from the bridge. And they sat there like this with their
arms folded. Incidentally, that was a church that never supported
any missionaries. Never in the 18 years that this
preacher was there, not one missionary, never supported a missionary.
When we were there, there was not one child, not one teenager,
not one young person in all the congregation. And the leading men sat on the
back row with their arms folded like this, like, tell me something
I don't know. They were staunch Calvinists.
They believed sovereign grace. And they sat there like it. They
weren't receiving the Word as little children, but as Pharisees. And making a man an offender
for a Word. Ready to pounce on false doctrine. And they did.
They got a man down there, a precious, sweet, kind man who sacrificed
everything to go preach to them. And they ripped him asunder.
And I think you know who I'm talking about. You know them by their fruits,
what they produce, the people, what they're like. That's how subtle it is. You
see what I'm saying? The devil, you believe there's
one God, the devil believes that. He believes in the sovereignty
of God. The devil believes salvation is of the Lord. He knows it is. Now here's a question, a very
solemn question. Can a false prophet preach the
truth? True doctrine, the truth. Well, the Lord did not say you know
them by the doctrine, did he? He did not say that. If you'll
read Balaam's messages, You won't find one thing wrong in anything
he said. I just did. I did it again. I
read it all again. I read it all. He propped the
side of Christ coming. He said, I won't take your money.
I'm not hiring it. But he was. He was an evil man.
He was a corrupt man. warned of Balaam over and over
again. Beware of Balaam. Reward. Money. He said the right
things for money. Balaam. He didn't preach false
doctrine, but he was an evil man. Judas Iscariot. This is how serious it is. Judas
Iscariot was one of the apostles. And he was sent out preaching.
And he was sent out by twos. And I don't know who went with
him. Judas and John. Judas and Bartholomew. Judas and Thomas. I don't know.
But the other one never suspected Judas for a minute. Apparently,
he was preaching the right doctrine. But he was an evil man. You see how important this is? Can a false prophet preacher
preach the truth? Yes. But nobody will be saved
under it. Turn with me to Jeremiah 23. King Saul. I told you about King
Saul. It says he prophesied. It says
the Spirit of the Lord came on him. Read it for yourself. 1 Samuel. I didn't jot it down.
I think it's chapter 9. Saul prophesied, preached. That
means preached. He was an evil man. King Saul
preached. The Spirit of God came on and
he preached. And the people were astonished. They said, is Saul
among the prophets? Saul wanted David dead. He wanted
Jonathan dead. He was evil and cruel to the
people of God. He split Israel right down the
middle. But he was preaching. There he
was preaching that day. Saul of Tarsus. Had you known
Saul of Tarsus? He preached the law. Every jot
and fiddle, buddy. He was true to the law. He was
blameless concerning the law. He was an evil man. Saul of Tarsus. But God turned him to Paul, the
apostle. Then he said, then he quit preaching
the law, Ty. He quit preaching the law. What
he said about the law was by the letter Salvation is not by
the law. Not by the law. He quit preaching
the law then, except to convict people and pour them to cry. No one is truly saved under a
false prophet. I heard one time... Now, folks,
I've heard a lot of preaching. I'm not an expert, but I do know
preaching when I hear it. I do know the truth when I hear
it. I better. And you do too. I heard Jimmy
Swaggart one time, Jimmy Swaggart preach on God being just and
justifier. Darwin Pruitt heard the same
message too. Brother Darwin heard it too. We were astounded. We
were astounded. We both thought, I can't believe
what I'm hearing out of this man. Such an obvious evil man,
but he's doing it. Why? Why? Well, nobody is saved under Jimmy
Swagger's ministry. Of that you can be sure. Well,
why did God have him preach the truth? To make everyone accountable. To make him accountable. Have they not all heard? Yes.
Even Balaam said it. God can speak to an ass. But Balaam wasn't saved by that
ass, was he? But he heard the truth. He said,
you're contrary to me. He didn't believe it. He didn't
fall down and ask for mercy. I heard, Mindy and I heard, we
were somewhere, turned on the TV, and I heard Billy Graham
in 1957, I believe it was, they call it the Billy Graham classic
sermons. If you can't see through that
fraud, you are blind, aren't you? Any man that would allow
himself to be idolized like that, pictures of himself praying,
a book, Just As I Am. Wow. Protestant Pope. But anyway, we heard him in 1957
preach a message and we were both astounded. We couldn't believe
it. We couldn't believe it. Do you hear what he's saying?
We agree with everything he said. Of course, at the end, they tore it all down by, now
what are you going to do with it? Well, you just receive Jesus. Jeremiah 23. How vital is it? How important is it? Well, our
Lord said, beware. Because they're so dangerous. There's so many.
They're so subtle. So deceptive. Jeremiah 23, it
says in verse 32, he said, I am against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the Lord. Do tell them, cause my people
to err by their lies and by their likeness. Now, no lie is of the
truth. No liar either. Read on. He says, I sent them
not, I sent them not, nor commanded them. When you have this, they
shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. What more do we need? Do we need
another scripture? No. How shall they preach except
they be what? Sent. How shall they believe
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Now, somebody will argue this,
and there's not one example in Scripture of one person saved
under Balaam, one person saved under Judas, one person saved.
You won't find them. It's not there. You weren't saved
under a lie. You weren't saved under a liar.
Arguments. Here's an argument. So, being
saved depends on the preacher. He's got to be saved. If I heard
the gospel from him, he's got to be saved. If you really heard
it... No, salvation is not dependent
on the man, it's dependent on the God-man. Salvation is not
dependent on who you hear it from necessarily, but it's hearing
the truth. It's about the Spirit of God,
being born of God, hearing the truth. But the fact is, and I've
just quoted to you, our Lord said they won't profit the people
at all. And they can't preach except
they're sent. And God says of false prophets,
I sent them not. I sent them not. I sent them
not. And what we need to do is quit defending a man. Quit trying
to figure out how to defend men. And what a lot of people are
doing is trying to defend an old profession of faith. I was saved under Billy Graham
years ago. No, you were not. No, you weren't.
They're trying to figure out when we were saved too. That's
bad. Trying to figure out when we were saved. Our Lord Jesus Christ commended
John the Baptist. He commended his true preacher.
That's what he does. You'll know him. You'll know
him. He denounced and exposed false
preachers. Now, the Lord is not going to
condone a false preacher. He's not going to come in. He's
not going to give credibility to a false preacher. He's not going to do it. He doesn't
do it. True men, good men, bring forth good fruit. Can true men
err? Alright, here's the last thing.
1 Corinthians 3. Go over there quickly, and I
close with this. 1 Corinthians 3. Can true preachers
preach error? Yes. I just read one of the old Puritans,
probably the greatest theologian ever produced by England. I'm not going to say his name,
but he believed in infant baptism. And that's just error. It's just
error. Now, here's the thing. If this
man is saying, You're saved by infant baptism. Or no one is
saved unless they are baptized as an infant. Now that's heresy. That's heresy. That's false doctrine. Error is wrong about that. Wrong
about that. But a true preacher cannot preach
heresy. A good tree cannot produce evil
fruit. But look at 1 Corinthians 3,
and I was talking to a brother who heard the gospel under a
man that I believe is a gospel preacher, but the man just got
off on other things. Didn't preach heresy, mind you. Didn't preach false doctrine,
but just got all caught up with all sorts of other things. wood, hay, and stubble. I read
this, and so this believer was worried because that's who he
heard. And I've heard the man preach
it too. Bless my heart. 1 Corinthians 3, 11, "...other
foundation can no man lay than that is lay which is Jesus Christ."
Now, if any man build upon this foundation, now here's a man,
there's a foundation, he's building on it, gold, silver, precious
stones. That's the gospel. That's Christ. Wood, hay, stubble. That's other stuff. Anything
other than or in addition to Christ. Every man's work will
be made manifest, verse 13. The day shall declare it. It
will be revealed by fire. The fire shall try every man's
work. He's talking about preaching. Of what sort it is. If any man's
work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a
reward. If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved. But it's going to be a fiery,
awful thing. I've known men to leave the ministry. Every man I know, every true
preacher has wanted to and tried to. Right? Wanted to and tried to. I've
known some to do it. Does that mean they're evil men?
No. It's scary isn't it? It ought to be. This is serious. That's why the Lord said, Beware.
Beware. Try them. Put them to the test.
You'll know them by their fruits. Fruits. And we're going on here
in the next hour to look at the foundation that's laid. You watch
a man build. You watch a man build. And the
first thing you need to look for is the foundation. Every message he preaches, you're
going to hear the foundation. That's how you know. That's how
you know.