Them, that is, these false prophets,
because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the
world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world. And the world heareth them. We
are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. That's our text. Hereby know
we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. I don't believe that you could
hear, that we could hear a more important message, especially
you fathers and mothers in here, who have your children sitting
here, and sitting in the classrooms downstairs where Gabe and some
of our ladies teach them Sunday after Sunday, listening to me,
listening to them, tell you and your children that this is the
truth, and all else is a lie. Isn't that what all religions
say? Don't they all use this book? Yeah, at least a perversion of
it now. But don't all so-called Christian
denominations and all do all that they do in the name of Jesus? So, how can you know? This is important. As I said,
especially you parents, I told you about watching that terrible,
true documentary of that evil man in Jonestown, Africa, who
led a thousand people to a horrible death. and children, fathers,
mothers, and little children and babies. Now, the men in I-1 could hardly
get that out of our minds after watching that. That man began
with the Bible. And people followed him. They
called it a church. But he was an evil man and a
deceiver. And the sad fact is, though,
that's just one instance of many, many, many down through history. There have been millions down
through history, and countless numbers have followed many, many
evil men and perished with them. And we know that what we believe
is the truth. God's Word says so, doesn't it?
Doesn't it say that? And verse 6, Hereby know we the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Leaving no doubt, Brother
Stephen, says, Hereby we know. All right? Not a more important
message. All right, verse 1, he says,
Beloved, believe not every spirit. They're called a spirit because
they're possessed with a spirit. Either the Holy Spirit, John,
or an evil spirit, right? There's no middle ground here.
And they're called spirit for that reason. He says, don't believe
them but try, or that is, don't believe everyone that is called
by that name, preacher or whatever, but try them because many false
prophets, he said, are gone out into the world. Now, that was
then. That was two thousand years ago.
Nancy and he said many and John said you've heard of Antichrist
should come even now are there many. Antichrist is not one person. Someone doesn't know that it's
not one person. It's a spirit of Antichrist.
All right led by Satan. Who is anti. Christ against Christ,
but there are many. That's what John said over in
1 John 2, 18. You read it with me. Many. Turn to Matthew 24 with me. Matthew 24. Our Lord Jesus Christ
says this very thing. Many false prophets. Listen to what he says in Matthew
24. This is his message on the last
days, Matthew twenty three, twenty four, I'm sorry, verse three,
three, five. He sat upon the Mount of Olives.
The disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these
things be? What shall be the sign of thy
coming, the end of the world? And the Lord answered and said
unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall
come in my name. The first thing he told them
was, Be careful. Take heed. Take heed to what? To Him, His Word. Be careful that no man deceive
you. No man. If we're going to be
deceived, it's going to be by men. He says, many shall come
in my name. That is, in the name of Jesus. And shall say, verse 25, verse
5, saying, I am Christ. They're saying Jesus is Christ. Now, you read with me, 1 John
4, where he said, if any spirit say that Jesus is the Christ. This is important because it
goes deeper than meets the eye, what it means to say that Jesus
is the son of God and is the Christ. But our Lord said here,
they will say, that he's right. With me. Don't they all say that. Even the most perverse one Mormonism
all that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints they
call them. All right our Lord said that
they shall say that he's the Christ and deceit not that they're
the Christ. He's the Christ. Down in verse twenty Verse twenty-three,
any man that say, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it
not, there shall arise false Christs, men like that David,
what was his name, Koresh, Jim Jones, and others who claim to
be the Messiah. They say they are, and they're
false puppets. Show great signs and wonders in so much that if
it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. I told you before. Before it
happened. And I go back to 1 John 4. And our Lord over in his Sermon
on the Mount, he said, Many will say unto me in that day, Lord,
Lord, we preach in your name, the name of Jesus. We did many
wonderful work to cast out devils. Signs and lying wonders, our
Lord said, if it were possible, see you very late. Well, 1 John
4. All error, hereby we may know
the spirit of truth, the spirit of error. All error and all deception
uses God's Word. How did sin enter this world?
Satan used God's Word. He used it first, talking to
Eve, and he just put a little twist on it. And then he put
a question mark on it, right? Half God said. And then he flat
out denied it. No, you won't die. Right? Same thing is happening to you
today. Same thing. There's a measure
of truth in all this error. But no lie is of truth. Truth has no lies in it. Old brother Scott Richardson
used to say 98% of rat poison is good food. or the rats wouldn't
eat it. It's got to look like, smell
like, seem like good food or rats won't eat it. It's that
little bit of poison, a little leaven, a little error, one little
lie, Brother Stephen, destroys the truth. No lie is of the truth. We read that. So here are a few
things before we get into the heart of the message. If they
claim to be, if anyone today claims to be a prophet, and lots
of them do, if anyone today claims to be
a prophet, they are false. Cross the board. Anybody. There are no more prophets. No
sir. So if anybody claims, if they
claim to be an apostle, You know many do. Turn on your TV, you'll
hear it. If anyone claims to be an apostle,
they're false. Write them off. You do. You know
them. You're not taken by them. If they, whoever they are, claim
to be a prophet or apostle, if they are women, You know that, don't you? You've
been taught by man, by the Lord God Himself. There are no more
prophets, no more apostles, no women, preachers, teachers, pastors. You know that. All right, look
at verse 2 here in our text. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, the Holy Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come into flesh is of God, and every spirit
or speaker, preacher, teacher that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. That's the spirit
of anti-Christ you heard should come, and even now, already in
the world. All right? are the ways you may
know the Spirit of God and the Spirit of truth. My pastor used
to always say, if you want to point out a crooked stick, just
lay down straight with it. And that's the order in which
he said, hereby we know the Spirit of the truth. If you know the
truth, Error is easy to spot if you know the truth. All right, go with me to Colossians.
The book of Colossians, chapter 1. Here are a few things, basically
three points of this message. Knowing the truth and those who
preach it is known three ways. Number one, it's known by the
message. the truth, the message of the truth. And the message
is Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the message. This is
what the Spirit of God uses. This is what the Spirit of God
teaches. This is what the Spirit of God points men to, or rather
who, Christ and Jerusalem. This is the message. And we could turn to countless
scriptures. We don't have to leave Colossians. Look at this. This is just wonderful.
I just started reading this, and I thought, what do I leave
out? Where do I start? Where do I stop? This is the
message. Colossians 1, verse 14 says,
"...in whom," that is, Christ, "...we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Who's the Redeemer?
Jesus Christ. How did he redeem? By his precious
blood. Who puts away sin? Jesus Christ. That means anyone who claims
to forgive sins is a liar. Anyone who is called a co-redeemer
is a liar, and that's antichrist. Catholicism calls Mary the co-redemptress. Yes, they do. They call her the
co-redemptress. And those men who claim to forgive
sin, such as the Pope and so forth, are anti-frank. In whom we have redemption. In whom? Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of sin. Where
is the forgiveness of sin? Jesus Christ. Read on. Verse
fifteen. Who is the image of the invisible
God? Read on. Verse sixteen. By him
were all things created. That means he's the creator,
doesn't it? Things in heaven, things in earth,
visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities, or
powers. All things were created by him.
Who? Jesus Christ. And for him. Who?
Christ. He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist. The God in whose hands our breath
is. Who? Jesus Christ. Anybody that says Jesus Christ
is not God, I'm talking the everlasting Father. It's anti-Christ. It's false. I don't care how
it looks, how it sounds, what it seems like. It's false. He's the head of the body, the
church. He's the head. He's the head
of the church. There is no other head of the
church. He's the potentate. If anybody is called the head
of the church, he's anti-Christ. Right? Who said that? God said it. Are you saying it? No, I'm not
saying it. God said it. Potpourri, all these fellows
are anti-Christ. I didn't say the anti-Christ,
but many anti-Christ, spirit of anti-Christ. My, my. Look at verse 20. He
made peace. Still talking about Jesus Christ. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross, who makes peace for us? Who reconciles
us to God? Who makes peace for us with a
holy and angry God? Who does? Jesus Christ. Do we
do it? Do we make our peace with God?
Who made peace with God? John David. Jesus Christ, anybody
that says you need to make your peace with God. Anybody that says about a fellow
who died, you know, and they say this, well, he made his peace
with God. It's false. It's false. I don't care how it looks, how
it sounds, how it's sincere, it's false. Don't you see that? Who made peace with God? Jesus. Many of you were in there
and I don't want. We don't want to have a spirit
of better than you know the cardinal. I'm just being dogmatic just
saying what. It's calling a spade. My mother when we did that message
from James four on resisting the death. She was part of one
of these Southern Baptist places and I was in Tennessee at the
time, Tennessee, Alabama, Alabama, Fairfield, Alabama. She was secretary
to some big high pollutant preacher and they had They had a day. It's not funny,
really. It's hard for me to imagine my
mother in there. But they had a day where they dressed the
big old fella up in a red suit with pitchfork and tail and pointed
horns and all that. And they ran him out of town.
They had a parade. The whole so-called church ran
the devil out of town. Even. She said she would didn't
you know that you stayed home but. Anyway we all you all were
in that to work many of you were in that sort of thing. We look at that wonderful message
of. There's only one person able
to bind a strong man. Stronger than he. And they are, they're captives
of him at his will. Going through the motions, when
all the while they're being led by him. My, my. Look at verse 22. What does that
bring all that up? I don't know. Verse 22. It says
in verse 20, in the body of his flesh, through
death, he will present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in God's sight. He makes you holy. Jesus Christ makes us holy. Jesus Christ has made unto us
righteousness, sanctification, holiness. We are made holy in,
by, through, because of Jesus Christ. We don't make ourselves
holy. They call people who call themselves
holiness. That holiness religion is not
of God, it's false. Our holiness, Nancy Parks, is
Jesus Christ. Right? That's what the Word says. That's what the Word says. Now,
who did this? He did. Look at chapter two. Look at this, you being dead,
verse 13, you being dead in your sins, this sounds like Ephesians
2, 1, doesn't it? You being dead, it is the same
book, dead in your sins, uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened
together with him. Have God quickened and you have
he quickened. That means you were dead and
God just gave you life. You don't give yourself life.
You don't make a decision. Decisional regeneration, no sir. God gives life. That exposes and that renounces
all free will, Arminian preaching that says you make your decision
and so forth. Clear to you. Clears the nose
on your face. Look at verse three of chapter
two in him in Christ are he had all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge in Jesus Christ are he had a double L. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. In other words if it's wise it
has to have something to do with Christ if it's worth knowing
it has to do with Christ right John, is that what it says? All
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There's a religion today called
Scientology. And actors are particularly fond
of it. It's false. It's foolishness. Jesus Christ,
in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In fact,
God goes, says so clearly, He makes foolish the wisdom of his
word. Only that which pertains to Christ
is wise. Make a man wise unto salvation. All right. Look at verse 8. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy. Philosophy? Self-help? Modern psychology? Anthropology? Any other ology? Beware. And not after Christ,
doesn't it? Say that, verse 8, after the
tradition of men. Doesn't matter how old the religion
is. The religion of Satan started
in the garden. After the rudiments of the world,
that's the elements of the world. Down in verse 21, touch not,
taste not, handle not. The commandment to abstain from
meats, only fish on Friday. Where does it say that in God's
Word? It doesn't. It's false. Truth is not in meat and drink,
the scripture says, but in righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit. So, oh my, it's clear
isn't it? All these non, you know, verse
23, it says they have a show of wisdom and will show humility,
neglecting of the body, Hinduism, non-material, it sounds good
as they pronounce the word, it's false. It's not Christ. Any other ism, vegetarianism,
any other ism, it's false. Okay, it's all clear to you. Is that clear to you? We can
just keep going. Why is it clear to you? Why do you know this stuff? And others can read the same
book and not see it at all. Wrong for half. The Lord Jesus
Christ said it. Look over in John chapter 8.
John chapter 8. Lord Jesus Christ Himself said
this, in John chapter 8. John 10, other places, He said,
My sheep hear My voice. He said in John 10, They shall
be all taught, John 6, 45, They shall be all taught of God. That's
God's Church. All taught of God, the Holy Spirit.
What does He teach them, John? Patrick read John 14. John 14,
15, 16. Our Lord goes into great detail
about the Holy Spirit. And He says when He comes, He'll
not speak of Himself. You'll not hear people talking
about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. But
He'll take the things of mine, Christ's. He'll receive of mine
and show them unto you. He'll bring to remembrance all
things that I have said, Christ's. Holy Spirit filled preaching
and people are those who are filled with the worship of Christ. Christ. Our Lord said in John
8, verse 43, John 8, 43, Why do you not understand
my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my voice. First forty seven he is of God
here. How do they hear. The hearing
ear. And see you not see his glory
he would see if the son believe it or not the hearing ear and
the C.N.R. is where. It's a gift it's the
sovereign power. And grace. It's a revelation
of God. Man, by searching, cannot find
out God. God reveals himself. God chose
a people. God has an elect people whom
he reveals himself to. Is that the truth? So help me,
God. Anything else? Look at this. John says very
boldly, back in our text, 1 John 4, in verse 6, he said, We are of
God. He that heareth knoweth God,
heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Heareth not us. He said in verse
5, They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world. What
does the world want to hear about? and wealth. Happy, debts paid,
financial debt. Peace, peace, prosperity in this
world. And the world heareth them. They
have a worldwide hearing. Mark it down. Whatever the world
flocks after, whoever the world flocks after and believes, He says here, we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. We are of God. He that is of
God, heareth us. Our Lord said, he that is of
God, heareth God's word. Why? Why would? Who do you listen
to? Who do you listen to? Well, you hear a man who speaks
of God. He that is of God, heareth us. He that knoweth God, heareth
us, because a man speaks of God. A man stands up. Brother Mike
Walker came in here. You're not very familiar with
him. Two times now he's come in here and spoken to you, and
both times, what did he preach? God on the throne, Christ on
a cross, and Christ exalted right in the room. Same message. That's the same message you hear
out of every man sent by God. They speak of God as God. Any man who stands up and tells
people to let God be God. Say unto the heathen, he told
Isaiah, by God reigneth. We speak of God. Who's of God? He that says God is God, and
all that that means. And those who love God as God,
that's what they want to hear. They won't hear anything else.
He that is of God loves to hear God exalted. And that one that
is of God, here's the whole counsel of God. God Almighty tells His
preachers to preach One thing. Christ in him crucified. Preach
Christ. The whole counsel of God to man
is in a word. Christ. Christ. Christ. And we preach the things
of God. The things of God. Not of this
world, but spiritual things. Spiritual blessings. Holiness,
righteousness, redemption, forgiveness of sins. The. Pitching. Pitching. Pitching. You know what that means. You
do. That's another word for. The word in the middle of that
pitch. You are. Raised in the spring elite pitch. You ask old Noah, do you like
propitiation? Oh, I sure do. Propitiation. Mercy. Sweet sounding word, isn't it?
You ever get tired of hearing a man stand up and talk about
preaching mercy? This is the things of God. Grace. Grace. Salvation is about grace. Covenants. Covenants. God's made a covenant, an everlasting
covenant, Nancy. It's ordered in all things and
sure. Who's it with? Not with me. I can't keep it. In the surety of the everlasting
covenant. You like the sound of that, Patrick?
Keep hearing it? You must be of God. This is God's
covenant concerning His Son. Glory! A man stand up and talk
about glory. What's he talking about? Lord,
show me thy glory. Who is it? What about the preacher himself?
I've been thirty three minutes. You give me just a few more minutes.
What about the preacher himself? You know them by their message. We preach Christ and him crucified. Paul, you know Paul is true,
don't you? The apostle. Because he said,
I'm determined not to know anything much, but Jesus Christ and Him. Woe is unto me, he said, if I
preach not the gospel, I dare not do anything. He said, it's
an assessment that's laid upon me. This is the message God demands. This is the message people need
to hear. Christ, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Every time? Well, yeah, pretty much. Absolutely. He's the seeds of it, huh? Determined
not to know anything but Christ. Their methods, the man's methods
are always in keeping with his message. If his message is right,
his methods are right. What's his method? Listen to
it again. Here's Paul. He said, We preach
Christ and Him crucify. We preach it please God brother
John by the foolishness of preaching. This is the method of socializing
organizing various ministries. Seeing we have this ministry
all day as we have received mercy. We thank not what's the ministry
the ministry of the gospel of the word. The gospel is the power
of God not counseling program. Not this and you know these things.
So clearly. So. You know good and well your children
are not going to be brought into the kingdom by making them part
of a basketball team. It doesn't have anything to do
with spiritual things. It's recreation. We want them
to experience regeneration, not recreation. That's what the YMCA
is for. This is all about knowing God. The method is always in keeping
with the message. Paul said, we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty. We are not as many, he said,
which corrupt the word of God. But as of God, in the sight of
God, as of sincerity, in the sight of God, we preach Christ. We preach. Can these bones live,
Ezekiel? Yeah, Lord, thou knowest. And the manner, the man's manner,
or the man himself, let's do it again. We preach, not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ. We preach, that's the method,
not ourselves, but Jesus Christ, that's the
message. John, you know John was of God,
because he said, and he confessed, he denied not, I told you, I'm
not the Christ, don't follow me. We're not trying to get men
to follow us. No sir. John said, he must be
free, I must be free. Christ said, and this is the
message for the radio Sunday morning, he that speaketh of
himself seeketh his own glory. And you can see right through
it, can't you, Brother Stan? You can hear them, you can see them,
you can spot them, you can smell them. They're in it for their
namesake. Let a man come in his own name,
our Lord said, and you'll receive him. He said, how can you receive? He's talking to the people of
the world. How can you believe which receive honor one of another?
A man comes in his own name, it's plain clear that he's for
his own glory. He's got his name everywhere.
He loves to be seen doing this and that and the other. And people
will receive him, no matter how crooked, no matter how covetous
he is, plain, just extorting and excess and all that. But
he that seeketh his glory, Christ said, he that seeketh his glory,
that sent him. The same is true, no lying. Here's the tip. Here's the litmus
test. Hereby you may know the spirit
of truth, the spirit of error. Who's getting the gold? And he goes on to say, not covetousness,
not covetous. Paul said, you know, good and
well, we didn't use flattery as a cloak of covetousness. He
said, wasn't trying to get your money. You know that. Not vainglorious. Not entertainers. And look at this, chapter 2,
and I close. Chapter 2, he said, in verse
14, we read, you young men, I've written unto you, written unto
you fathers, you older men in here, fathers in the faith, you've
known him that's from the beginning. You know God that's living and
true God. And I've written unto you young men, because you're
strong. Strong in what? In the faith.
Hey, we've got some young men in here that are strong in the
faith. Patrick and, yes, Stephen, young. And Sam and John and Stan and
on and on and Kelly, young men, strong in the faith. What is
the faith? Jesus Christ. How's faith come? By hearing the Word. Look at
it. And the Word of God abideth in
you. Stephen, no man is going to fool
you because you know the living and true God. If he's not preaching
the true God, you're not going to fall for him. Let's just say
it. No man is going to fool you.
You've overcome them because if he's not preaching Christ,
high and lifted up, sovereign, successful Savior, his finished
work, his glorified person, it's not true. They're not going to
fool you. You're not going to hear that from them. You hear it? You hear it? You
hear it? It's being driven home to you, a nail in a sure plate,
the Word of God that liveth and abides forever, that dwelleth
in you, and no man will take it from you. You're grounded and settled in
the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and you will not be fooled. Our
Lord said, A stranger they will not follow. Isn't that comforting, Jerry?
Oh, my. So there's really no worry in
that respect. Because God had promised that
we might escape the corruptions in the world through the precious
promise, the Word of God that abideth in us. Patrick, I was
so pleased you read that, John 14, the Word that abideth in
you. Sounds like 1 John 2 and 4, doesn't
it? It's the same. The word of God,
the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ dwelleth in you. He's
taken the things of Christ and showed them unto you, all wisdom
and knowledge. We read there, you know all things.
You know all things. You really don't even need a
teacher. You know all things. What things? All things in him
are his. All things. So, right there, you stay right
there. And you'll not be, with a stranger's voice, you'll not
talk. Okay. Our Lord, we thank you for your
word. It is truly thy word and thy
salvation. We just don't realize, Lord,
just how much you've done for us, what you've given to us,
this treasure that is thy Word. Word of God. Jesus of God. We're in God's Word because you
put it in them. You planted it. This is that
moon. covenant where you've written your word in the tables of the
heart of the truth. It abides in us and it separates,
sanctifies your people from the world, keeps them from the evil
one and his ministry. It clothes and keeps us clothed. Lord, we thank you for your word. Word. We ask that you keep us
cleaving to it, that you might keep by Word, I commandment,
lay hold of it. Buy the truth, sell it not, anything. And look to Christ, who is the
Word. Find in him our all and end all. Thank you again, Lord,
for thy truth, which liveth and abideth forever. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.