Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. And I'm going
to continue preaching through this chapter concerning the issues
of the last days. The last days leading up to the
second coming of Christ. What the Lord teaches His disciples. about the last days in this chapter,
and as I told you before a couple of weeks ago, if you want to
read the parallels to this chapter of Mark 13, read Matthew chapter
24. and Luke chapter 21. Read those
on your own. We'll be referring to some of
that as we go through. But now, as I go through this,
I want you to understand that each message stands on its own
merit as far as the preaching of the gospel. If you did miss
the last messages in the opening of these verses, you won't be
confused, hopefully, not by me anyway, I hope. But these messages
do stand on their own as far as the preaching of the gospel.
But today, I want to deal with something that is not an easy
subject to deal with. In some ways, it's a most unpleasant
subject. It's certainly a subject that
unbelievers do not want to hear. As the natural man, 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of the Lord. They're foolishness to him, neither can he know them.
They're spiritually discerned. But even true believers have
a tendency not to want to delve in to these issues. I've entitled
this message two words, take heed. It says that in Mark 13
here, look at verse 5. Jesus answering them, talking
about his disciples, they asked this question, he began to say,
take heed. He says, take heed lest any man
or anyone deceive you. And that take heed simply means
to watch out. Be on your guard. Listen very carefully and very
intently. There's a verse in the Gospels
that says, take heed what you hear. And I think in the book
of Luke it's translated this way, take heed how you hear. And you can argue with different
Greek scholars over which it should be, what or how, but it
really doesn't matter because I tell you both are important.
Not only should you take heed, be careful, watch out for what
you hear, that it's the truth from God's Word, but also take
heed how you hear. The parable of the sower and
the seed teaches that. How should you hear the word
of God? How should I hear it? Not as the word of men, not as
the opinions of men, but as God's word. This is God speaking to
me. Not me, it's the Lord from His
word. And that's what we have to be
careful about. But here in Mark chapter 13,
in talking about the last days, The Lord has instructed His disciples
and us that there are two major events that take place that mark
the beginning of the last days. Now, you remember the last days?
Whenever the Scripture refers to the last days, it's talking
about that time period, that segment of time from Christ's
first coming into the world and His finishing His work at the
cross, His resurrection and ascension from that time all the way to
his second coming. It's called the last days, the
last age. And I believe we're in the final
stage of even that. I told people, I tell somebody
we're in the last of the last days. Now I don't know when he's
coming again. I don't know if you got an opportunity to read
the paper this morning, but I mentioned to you a couple of weeks ago
that I got a little thing in the mail where a fellow was saying
that it's going to be May 21st, 2011. And I think they had a little
article in the paper this morning about it. They're putting up
billboards about that. Anyway, we don't know when he's coming
again. We know that he is coming again. And as time bears down, these
are things that mark the last days. Well, Christ here begins
talking about two major events that mark the beginning of the
last days. You remember over in Mark 13 and verse 8, at the
end of that verse, He said, These are the beginnings of sorrows. The beginnings of sorrows. And
my last two messages on that are entitled, The Beginnings
of Sorrows. And that sorrow there is not
sorrow to despair, but it's like the sorrow of the travail of
a woman in childbirth. In other words, it's a sorrow
that we go through like a woman in childbirth only to find out
at the end that there's a satisfaction, there's a pleasure there like
a woman in childbirth when she has that baby and that baby's
healthy. And it's the same kind of thing
that was used to describe the death of our Savior in Isaiah
53. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, the sorrow of his soul, and be satisfied, which means
the salvation of his people. Christ didn't die to try to save
anybody. He died to save his people from
their sins. And he did so because he accomplished
redemption on the cross. And so this is the beginning
of sorrows. Well, these two great events, I spent most of my time
in the last few weeks talking about this first one, which is
the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Look at
it again. He said in verse 1 of Mark 13,
and as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto
him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings
are here, this beautiful building. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Seest thou these great buildings, there shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. And so that temple,
that physical temple was going to be destroyed. He told them
that. That marked, that was a physical
message from God that the old covenant was over. And that God's
dealings with Israel as a nation was over. Not that he's finished
dealing with Israel, but as a nation under that covenant, it's over.
And the new covenant has been ushered in. And that took place
in A.D. 70, so that's past in our day.
But it was future for them. And now, he says in verse 5,
here's the second thing. This is what I want to deal with
today. And what it has to do is the
deception of the world by false Christianity. And that's not
a pleasant subject for anybody. Now listen to what I said now.
It's the second thing that marks the beginning. This started in
their day. And I'll show you that. And it's continuing. And it's the deception of the
world by false Christianity. Now, I did not say the deception
of the world by false religion. There is a deception of the world
by false religion. There are false religions. But
this is even more subtle. This is even more deceptive.
I'll tell you, this really hits home. And it's the deception
of the world by false Christianity. Not only is there false religion
in general, but there's false Christianity. Now listen to what
he says in verse 5 of Mark 13. He says, and Jesus answering,
they asked, when shall these things be fulfilled? And he says,
he said, well, take heed, verse 5, and Jesus answering them said,
began to say, take heed, watch out, beware, lest any man deceive
you, for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ. Or, as I told you last time,
that word, the title Christ there is in italics. And it's not necessarily,
it's not limiting itself to people who come along and say, I am
Christ. Now, we know that happens. In
the past 2,000 years, there have been several who have come along
and said, I am the Messiah. We've seen it in our day, and
I mentioned like Jim Jones and David Koresh, people like that,
who claim to be the Messiah. But now, they really don't deceive
that many. So what he's actually saying
here is many will come saying, I am preaching Christ. There
are many who will say, they won't say, I am Christ, but they say,
I am preaching Him, or I come in His name. And I'll show you
that in just a moment. It says, and shall deceive many. Now that's a many. You know,
we always like a crowd, don't we? We always like people to
be with us. In fact, we wrongfully judge
the rightness of something by the crowd sometimes. That's a
terrible way to be deceived. But we like to have a lot of
people. But now this is a many I don't want to be in. How about
you? I don't want to be with this
many here. Because it says, many shall be deceived. This is like
the many who are on the broad road that lead to destruction.
Many there be that find it. And the reason there's so many
that find it is because that's natural to man. That's self-righteous.
It feeds his pride. And even false Christianity will
feed the pride and the self-righteousness of man. So he says, they'll deceive
many. Now, you take heed. He says in
verse 7, And when you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be
ye not troubled, for such things must needs be, but the end shall
not yet be. You're going to hear, just like
they always have now, this is nothing new. Wars, rumors of
war, when has it ever been different since the beginning of man in
the fall? Earthquakes, all those things.
Verse 8, nation shall rise against nation. That's been going on
for ever since the man fell. Kingdom against kingdom. There
shall be earthquakes in diverse or various places. There will
be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrow.
When you hear about these things, don't let those things alarm
you. That's what he's saying because the end is not yet. You know, people look around,
they read the newspaper and they say, man, there's an earthquake.
You know, that means the world's coming to an end. And Christ
says, no, no, no, no. Don't let that alarm you. Remember
what he said there, verse 7, but the end shall not be yet.
All right, there's a war over here or over there. Oh, the world's
coming to an end. That's the way people do naturally.
He says, no, the end's not yet. That's always been that way,
you see. And somebody said, well, it seems
like there's more of them today than there were back in the 1700s. Well, did you live back in the
1700s? I don't think you did. How do you know? Study history. The history of man is written
with blood, isn't it? Wars and wars and fights and
conflicts. I mean, that's the way it is.
Famines. This world is under the condemnation of sin. That's why the whole creation
groaneth for the revelation of the sons of God, Romans chapter
8. This world is going to be created
anew. It's going to be burned up and
created anew, the scripture says. So don't think when you hear
about all these things in the news, oh, that marks the beginning
of the end. No, no. Here's the two of them, all right?
The temple's been destroyed. And I know people talk about
rebuilding all that. I'll get to that in another message,
all right? But listen, don't be looking for that, all right?
The temple of the Lord today is the church. That's what the book says. That's
what this book says. If you're a Christian, if you're
a believer, you're a stone in the temple of the Lord. A living
stone, Peter said. Built up on the foundation of
Christ. Upon this rock I will build my
church. Upon what rock? Christ and Him crucified and
risen again. And that's the temple. All right,
so that's passed. So he says now, take heed lest
any man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying
I am Christ or I am preaching Christ and shall deceive many.
Now look over at verse 9. Again he says here, take heed. Now I'm going to get to these
verses next week more in detail, but listen to them right now.
Now here's why this is such an unpleasant subject, what I'm
talking about today, about this false Christianity. It says,
"...but take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up
to councils..." Those are religious judgment seats. "...and in the
synagogues..." Now, what's a synagogue? That's a gathering, a religious
gathering, and that was the Jewish religious gathering. He says,
"...and in the synagogues you shall be beaten." They're going
to beat you up in their church services. That's what he means. "...and you shall be brought
before rulers and kings, even the civil government, will be
against you, for my sake, for Christ's sake." Now, when you
suffer the consequences of your own bad behavior, don't act like
you're standing nobly for the cause of Christ. You're not.
But when it comes to preaching the true gospel, preaching the
word of God, these things happen. He says, "...for a testimony
against them." In verse 10, he says, "...and the gospel must
be published among all nations." The world's going to stand against
you when you preach Christ. That's what he says. And you
know how people are. You know how we are. You know,
the first thing people say, you know, when you talk about false
Christianity and somebody says, well, now wait a minute, we're
not to be judges. That's the first thing you hear, isn't it?
Oh, we can't judge. You better go back to the book
now and read what God's Word says. Matthew 7.1 says, Judge
not that you be not judged. He's not forbidding all judgment
there. He's forbidding self-righteous judgment. Self-righteous judgment
is what He's forbidding. But here He's talking about being
discerning. In other words, I want to know
that I'm not deceived. How about you? Now, I know man
by nature is deceived. That's how man got into the mess
that we're in through Adam, our father. We fell in Adam. And
listen to me, we fell all the way, didn't we? We didn't just
fall part of the way. We didn't lose half of our goodness.
We lost it all in the garden. And you know how it come about?
Through a deception. And what did Satan do when he
sought out to deceive Eve? He began to take the Word of
God and twist it. He twisted the Word of God. And
so there's the deception. Here's a person who says, I'm
preaching the Bible. I'm preaching the gospel. I'm
preaching Christ. I want to know. Is he really? I want you to know if I'm...
I want... Listen. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 4 verse 1,
test the spirits. The spirit meaning a person who
comes claiming to preach by the power of the Spirit of God. You
test him. Now, how do you test him? Well,
you don't like his personality. That's a wrong test. Or, I don't
like his looks. That's a wrong test. If that
was the test, you'd never listen to John the Baptist, would you? So I don't like his cologne or
whatever. I don't know. Wrong test. What's the standard
to test by? The Word of God. To the law and
to the testimony if they preach not according to this Word, there's
no light in them. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 20.
And so when we talk about the deception of the world by false
Christianity, we have to use the standard of God's Word. It's
not always easy. There are some who are closer
than others. There are some, like I said,
people like Jim Jones and David Koresh, they come along and they
say, I'm the Messiah, follow me. They fool a few people, but
they don't fool you, do they? You wouldn't be out there drinking
purple Kool-Aid, would you? That's right, because you know
better. But there are others who don't
go that far. And it's like on a continuum
here. Christ spoke of those who at
some time would be so close. Look at verse 22 of Mark 13.
Now listen to this one. We'll look at verse 21 of Mark
13. He says, "...and then if any
man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he is there,
believe him not. For false Christ and false prophets
What is a false prophet? He's one who preaches a false
Christ. They shall rise and shall show signs and wonders. In other words, they're going
to impress a lot of people. To seduce. It's a spiritual seduction. If it were possible, even the
elect. But look at verse 23. Hear those
two words again. But take ye heed. Behold, I have foretold you all
things. I've told you this beforehand
so that you can prepare and be ready." That's what he's saying.
So there are going to be some who are just so far out in left
field that they won't deceive many, they'll deceive some, but
there's going to be others who are so close, they'll deceive
many. And the question is, how do we
know the difference? How can we know the difference?
There are several issues of truth that we can talk about. We can
talk about the doctrine of God. Who is God? A lot of people are
confused on that issue. Some people have their ideas.
Most people reason from the ground up rather than the revelation
of God. When you talk about a sovereign God, many people today don't
even know what you're talking about when they talk about God's
sovereignty. God's in control. He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. He's the God
of electing grace, the God of predestinating grace. That's
a dirty word in most churches today because they think it filters
down to fatalism. Que sera, sera, that kind of
thing. And that's what they're doing.
Instead of going by the revelation of God, they're going by the
reasoning of man. Well, if this is so, then this
is how I will act. No, no, no. You go by the Word
of God no matter what. The Bible teaches that God is
a holy God. He cannot even look upon sin.
He cannot receive sin. He will... God is a just God. He must punish sin. And there's
no way God can just turn His back on sin. Salvation is not
God looking over sin, looking past sin or looking through sin. Salvation is God putting away
sin by the blood of His Son. There's a big difference. Most
people think God is some old white-haired gentleman up there
who just feels sorry for us because we're in this predicament. That
is not so. God is a just God. The soul that
sinneth must surely die. The wages of sin is death. God must punish sin with eternal
damnation. And you want to know why? Because
He is God. We could talk about the doctrine
of the Trinity. You know that many people accuse
us of believing in three gods because of the Trinity. And I
admit, we cannot explain or illustrate the Trinity properly because
we don't have human language to do that. But we don't believe
in three gods. We believe in one God who subsists
in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal
in every attribute of deity. That's what the Bible teaches,
and those who deny that deny the true and living God. I don't
care what they call themselves. Now, that's so. We could talk
about the doctrine of man. What is man in the Scripture?
He's a sinner who cannot save himself. He's impotent. He's
a sinner who cannot deserve salvation because he has sinned against
God. He's a sinner, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner who cannot earn
salvation in any way. The Bible says Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am cheap. Salvation
is not God helping me to help myself. Salvation is God reaching
down through His Son to lift the beggar off the dung heap
of self and sin and bring him up to the highest heights of
heaven to make him washed in the blood of Christ and clothed
in His righteousness. Salvation is totally by grace. In fact, we're going to see that
one of the main issues in the deception of false Christianity
is the issue of works versus grace. Is salvation totally,
sovereignly, 100% of grace? Or is it at some stage, to some
degree, at some time, in some way conditioned on the works
of man. You see, false Christianity will
at some point in time or some degree introduce the works of
man and leave it up to the sinner. And that's false Christianity.
Man is totally, totally depraved. Now that doesn't mean everybody
is as bad as we could be. But it simply means this, there's
no way that I can stand before a holy God and be accepted and
eternally blessed based upon anything that I do or that anything
that comes from me. I'm totally at His mercy in Christ. My righteousness is not of me,
it's of Christ. It's His obedience unto death
for my sins. But then we come to the main
issue. And you can boil it down to about basically two points
of truth concerning the deception of false Christianity and that
which, by God's Word, forms the foundation of true Christianity.
And that's these two points. Number one, who is Jesus Christ? And number two, what did he actually
accomplish on Calvary? That's where it all boils down
to, those two issues. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. That's what Paul was saying here in 1 Corinthians chapter
1. He's talking about the preaching
of the cross. And this is what we need to hear. And he says in verse 23, he talks
about the wisdom of man as opposed to the wisdom of God, and compared
to the wisdom of God, the wisdom of man is nothing but foolishness.
And he talks about the Jews. And they're religious. And they're
trying to make themselves righteous by their works. And they require
a sign. And then the Greeks or the Gentiles,
they seek after worldly wisdom. But here's what we preach. Now
look at verse 23. We preach Christ crucified. Now that means the gospel. That's
the gospel of who Christ is, who He is, and what He accomplished
on the cross. He died for the sins of His sheep.
And that includes his burial and his resurrection. See, his
crucifixion was a victory, it was an accomplishment. As he
said in Luke chapter 9, it was an exodus, literally. You know
what an exodus is, don't you? That's when God led the children
of Israel out of Egypt through Moses. Well, the exodus of the
cross is when God brought his spiritual Israel out of the bondage
of sin through Christ. And that's what it was. And he
says, unto the Jews, that's a stumbling block. Now why is it, why do
they, that's an entrapment to them. Why is it a stumbling block
to the Jews? Well, what were the Jews doing?
They were trying to make themselves righteous and holy and accepted
of God by their works. Well, the preaching of Christ
crucified will not allow that. The preaching of Christ crucified
says that my only salvation, my only acceptance, my only salvation
from sin is Christ crucified. Not my works, not my efforts,
not my obedience. Not even my faith. My faith does
not wash me clean from all my sins. The blood of Christ does.
My faith is in His blood. You see the difference? You say,
well, that's splitting hairs. Take heed. Take heed. Let me tell you something. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
You sing that hymn? I do. And you know why? Because
I believe it. You do too, don't you? What can
make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I hear people all the time wondering and worrying about, have I believed
enough? Have I believed enough? And I
want to tell them, no, you haven't. No, you haven't. And I want to
say, have you believed enough for what? Have I believed enough
to save myself? No. And there's no amount of
faith you can muster up to save yourself. You see, it's not in
how much I believe. It's in whom I believe. That's
what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12. I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that He's able, not I'm able, but
I'm not able, He's able to keep that which I've committed unto
Him against that day. And anything less is a deception. is a denial, I'm telling you.
Somebody says, but you've got to be baptized. Oh, no, you can't
add anything to the work of Christ on the cross. You've got to do
this, you've got to do that. Anything you add to the work
of Christ as to attaining or maintaining salvation is a deception. It's a deception. Look at 1 Corinthians
2. Look at verse 1. He says, and
I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or wisdom, Declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Now, I want to point out something to you here. Paul says, I don't
want to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Well, what's he saying? You know, if you read through
the epistles of Paul, he dealt with a lot of different subjects.
He dealt with the ministry. He dealt with the church offices.
He dealt with obedience and good works, which are necessary, not
in order to make me righteous or to save me, but as the fruit
and evidence of having been saved by the grace of God. He dealt
with a lot of things. He dealt with how you dress in
church. All of that. So what does he mean here? I
don't want to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
What he means by that is this, everything that I preach to you,
Everything that I say to you that is truth has to be preached
and taught and understood in light of and upon the foundation
of this one truth, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I'll never
get away from that. Listen, you'll never go home,
I hope, and take your house off of its foundation, will you?
It'll always be there, won't it? It'll always be there. Well, who is Jesus Christ? Well,
simply put, and you've heard me say it and you've heard Brother
Mahan say it for so many years and many of you have heard it
in other places, He is God in human flesh. That's who He is. When the angel came to Joseph
and revealed to Joseph that Mary was with child, in the book of
Matthew 1 and verse 21 it is recorded, The angel said to Joseph,
she shall bring forth a son, your wife Mary shall bring forth
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Have you noticed
the significance of that? First of all, Joseph could not
name the child. God had to name that child. And
you want to know why Joseph could not name the child? Because he's
not Joseph's son, he's the son of God. When you couples have
children, do you name them or do you let somebody else name
them? Maybe somebody might try to, but you're the one who's
ultimately going to give them that name because they're yours.
Well, he's the son of God. Now, to say someone is the son
of God in the way that the Bible teaches that Christ is the son
of God is to say that he is equal with God. Just like you fathers,
you have sons. Now, they respect your authority
and they're under your authority, but because they're your son
doesn't mean they're any less human than you are. They're just
100% human, just like you. Well, Christ, the Son of God,
is 100% God. He's not a lesser God. He is
God. Did you hear that? He is God.
His name shall be called Jesus. That means Jehovah, our Savior. You don't give that name to anyone
but one who is God. He shall save His people from
their sins. That's what He accomplished on
the cross of Calvary by His redemptive work. He didn't try to save you
if you'd let Him. He saved His people from their
sins. He redeemed them and He'll have
them. He said in John 6 and verse 37, "...all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out." He said, "...this is the will of Him that sent
me, that of all whom He hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day." He shall save His people from
their sins. Now it goes on in Matthew chapter
1, to quote from the book of Isaiah, chapter 7. And in Matthew
1, 23, it says, "...behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which
being interpreted is God with us." God with us. He is God with us. John chapter
1 and verse 14, "...the Word, the eternal Word, which was with
God and which was God in the beginning, The Eternal Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. He is God. He told the Pharisees,
He said, before Abraham was, what? I am. That's without beginning,
without end. He's the Alpha and the Omega.
He is God in human flesh. And then look over at 1 John
chapter 4 now. Now listen to what God's Word
says. So now, here's what I'm saying now. This deception of
false Christianity. Here comes a person along and
they say, well, we believe in Jesus, just like you do. They say, we're Christian. Well, ask them, do you believe
He is God? And let's say for the sake of
argument, they say, no, we don't believe He's God. We believe
He's just a superhuman or the best human that ever lived or
whatever. That is a deception. That's false Christianity. You
hear what I'm saying? That's not splitting hairs. Look
at verse 1 of 1 John 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try or test the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ,
that's Jehovah our Savior, the Messiah, that's what that is,
He's God, is come in the flesh. In other words, every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that he
is God in human flesh, and then he says, that's how we know the
Spirit of God, when a person confesses that Jesus Christ is
God in human flesh. That's one point now. And that
has to do with his finished work too on the cross, because he's
the Messiah, alright? But he says in verse 3, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
that he's not God in human flesh, is not of God. They're not of
God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. You want to know who the Antichrist
is? Huh? Well, don't look in Washington.
Look right here in 1 John 4, 3. There's the Antichrist. He's one who confesses not that
Jesus Christ is coming. He's not God in human flesh,
that He didn't do what He said He did. He didn't accomplish
what He said He did. He says, "...whereof you have
heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the
world." Now look over at 2 John. Turn over to 2 John, verse 9. Well, look at verse 7. 2 John,
verse 7. He says, for many deceivers are
entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh, that He's God in human flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that's take
heed, that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but that
we receive a full reward. In other words, what he's saying
there is take heed so that you won't prove out to be a false
professor, but that you'll prove out to be a true believer. And
so he says in verse 9, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of his person and his
finished work, hath not God. And he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. And if there come
any unto you, now here's what people want to get away from,
but we can't from the scripture. It says, if there come any unto
you and bring not this doctrine, this doctrine of his person and
his finished work, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. Now what he's talking about there
is don't have religious fellowship with them. It doesn't mean you
can't let any unbeliever in your house. or anything like that,
or you can't work with them, or something like, but you cannot
have religious fellowship with them. He says in verse 11, for
he that biddeth him God's speed. In other words, if you promote
him in that false religion, you're a partaker, a fellowshipper of
his evil deeds. Now let me give you an example.
If a drug pusher, a known drug pusher, came and knocked on your
door and said, I'm taking up donations so I can continue on
my work, what would you do? You'd say, get away from my house.
I'm not promoting that. That's evil. Now, if a false
prophet or a false preacher or a false professor or a deceiver
comes to your door and knocks, say, I'm taking up donations.
I want you to support my work. What are you going to do? That's
even worse. You see what he's saying here?
Now, go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that Brother Aaron
read. And let me show you this. Now again, who is Jesus Christ
and what did he accomplish at the cross? Now last week I read
from Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 about what he accomplished
on the cross. It's a prophecy of the work of
Christ. And here's what Daniel said. Well, he finished the transgression,
he made an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity
and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and
the prophecy and to anoint the most holy. So what is the gospel? The gospel is this person, Jesus
Christ, God in human flesh, God who came to earth and His finished
work, His work on the cross is vitally connected to who He is,
alright? And he accomplished redemption
on the cross. He finished the transgression.
He brought in all the righteousness that God requires of His people.
It's found in Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace, not of
works. Paul said in Romans 11, if it's
of works, it's not of grace. If it's of grace, it's not of
works. But look here in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 11. He says,
Now that simplicity is singleness. My salvation is singularly wrapped
up in the person and finished work of Christ. Not anything
else. And that's a simple message.
And it's a single message. But when people divert their
attention away from Christ and Him crucified and risen again
for salvation, for righteousness, for eternal life, for glory,
then what's happening? Their minds are being corrupted.
And what does Paul say about that? Verse 4, he says, Now,
just to say Jesus doesn't mean anything in and of itself. Could
be another one. He's talking about what people
call the Holy Spirit there. You know, I've heard people say,
well, I come here and I just don't feel the Spirit. Well, the Spirit
is not something you feel. The Spirit is something you hear.
He's the Spirit of truth. Where is Christ preached and
lifted up and exalted? Where is God preached in His
reality, His character? Where is the sinner brought down
in the dust where he belongs? That's where the Spirit of God
is. And so He says, "...which you have not received, or another
gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear..." He's
not saying, bear with that false preacher. He's saying, bear with
me as I'm going through this. He says over in verse 13, look
here, he says, "...for such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." Now
that transformation there in that construction means a temporary
transformation. And you know what he's saying?
He's saying, for a little while, they can say some good things.
They can transform. They can appear to be true preachers.
But what they cannot do is stay consistently day in and day out
on the message of God's grace in Christ. They can't do it,
because their heart's not there. They transform into angels of
light. Verse 14, And no marvel, for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore
it is no great thing, it shouldn't surprise you is what he's saying,
that if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. They can preach Christ's righteousness
for a while, but they can't stay there. Whose end shall be according
to their works. Well, let me close with this.
Turn to Galatians chapter 1. And you see why this is such an unpleasant
subject for most people. Because you don't want to think
about it, do you? You don't want to think about how many people
out there who may be deceived. And it's not pleasant. And it's
not that we're just out here trying to point out everybody
else is wrong and we're right. That's not it, you see. That's
not it at all. All we're trying to do is take
heed. That's what he's saying in the
last days. So that we be not deceived, we're trying to lay
down that straight stick of the truth to expose the crooked sticks
of this world. Look at verse 6 of Galatians
1. He said, that you're so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." They'd
been diverted. And he says, "...which is not
another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. But though we," that's an apostle,
"...or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." My
friends, there's only one gospel. And it's the gospel of the sovereign
grace and mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. No other. Who He is and what He accomplished
on Calvary to completely and eternally save us from our sins. Any other gospel is a false gospel.
And we're to take heed, lest any man deceive us. How do we
do it? Let's go by God's Word. Let's
stay with God's Word. All right.