I told you Sunday that part of
the job that I have as your pastor is to warn you about false prophets. And that's the warning that we
have in our text this evening. I hope you'll pray for me, that
I handle this in the right spirit and right attitude for God's
glory and for your edification. The title of the message is False
Prophets and That Prophet. Now as we look at these verses,
I don't want to just blast false prophets. My desire from this
text, as in every text, is to preach Christ. To preach Christ
that prophet. So that you'll turn to Him and
you'll flee from these false prophets that Isaiah warns us
about. And I want to do that by showing you contrasts between
these false prophets and Christ that prophet. We read there in
Deuteronomy 18 to open the scripture about God's promise that He's
going to raise up a prophet from among the brethren, from among
those Israelites like unto Moses. Him the people will hear. Now
when our Lord came, the Pharisees knew that prophecy. That's why
they sent those ones to John the Baptist to say, are you that
prophet? Because are you the Christ? That's who they were
looking for. And the Lord said there in Deuteronomy 18, now
you're going to wonder, how can I tell? How can I tell one from
the other? Well, I hope this evening, by
the time you leave here, that you can be able to tell the difference
from the false prophet and Christ that prophet by seeing these
contrasts. Now, first of all, false prophets,
they're easy to spot. They come to devour. But Christ
that prophet comes to give life. Look at verse 9, our text. All
ye beasts of the field come to devour. Yea, all ye beasts in
the forest. Now the beasts of the field,
these are false prophets who have come to devour, to destroy. The beasts of the field are enemies
of men. They're like a lion who hunts,
lurking in the tall grass waiting to jump out and devour. That's
these false prophets. They're just lurking in the tall
grass trying to be hidden and they're going to leap out and
you know who they're going to always get? The little one. The weak
one. The one that's not strong enough
to run away. That's the way a lion hunts.
And these false prophets, they get their nature from their father
Satan. Scripture describes him as a
roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. And these
false prophets, they're dangerous. Isaiah calls them beasts in the
forest. These false prophets try to get
themselves in, in the flock among God's sheep. They're in the forest. They try to get themselves in
the flock. Well, how does a beast of the field get himself in the
forest? That forest is the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord. That's believers. How does that beast of the forest
get himself in that flock? Wolves get into the flock by
dressing themselves in sheep's clothes, don't they? They disguise
themselves for this purpose, for their own belly, so they
can devour people, so they can take money from them, so they
can get whatever they can get from them and then cast them
aside. And all the while, the way they devour, the way they
destroy souls is by preaching a lie to them. And that lie is
any message, any message other than Christ alone. Now, take
comfort, take comfort. These beasts, they're in the
forest. There's wolves in sheep's clothing in the flock, but you
take comfort. They cannot destroy. They cannot
devour God's people. They can't trick them into leaving
Christ. Christ our shepherd won't allow
it. See, they're not part of that forest. They're among them,
but they're not of them. They haven't been given that
new nature, like the trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord. They haven't been given a new nature. They've got the
nature of that wild beast. And their nature, their desire,
is to devour people. but they cannot devour God's
people. Now, I want us now to look at
the contrast. Thankfully, there's a contrast.
Christ, our Savior, who's that prophet. These false prophets
come to take life, don't they? To devour. Christ came to give
life. Look in John chapter 10. Christ
is life itself and He came to give life to His people. And
our Savior described it best, of course, In John 10, verse
10, the thief, that's the false prophet, the beast of the field,
the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. Christ came
to give his people life. Now, if you want to see a contrast
between a false prophet and that prophet, look how Christ gives
life to his people. Verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. The false prophet takes life
from the sheep. The good shepherd, that prophet,
he gives life to his people by dying for them as their substitute. Now you try to get a false prophet
to do that. He's only thinking of himself. He's thinking of
the way he can use the sheep to provide for himself, to fleece
the sheep, and kill the sheep, and roast the sheep. You know,
well, have a leg of lamb or something. He's not thinking about giving
his life for those sheep. He's thinking about what he can
get from them. That prophet gives his life for the sheep. That
they might have eternal life. And God's preachers, God's true
preachers, always preach that message. The message of Christ. Eternal life in Christ. God's preacher is not trying
to get something from you. He's not trying to get you to
follow Him. Tell you what he's trying to do. He's trying to
win you to Christ. He's not trying to win you to
him. He's trying to win you to Christ. And you should really
be able to know the difference when you hear it. You know when
somebody's trying to get something from you and when somebody's
trying to give something to you. You know the difference. And
that's the difference. A false prophet comes to devour.
That prophet comes to give life. Second, false prophets are blind. But Christ is the light of the
world and He gives life and sight to the blind. Verse 10, His watchmen
are blind. Now a false prophet is spiritually
blind. He can't see because God hasn't
given him the ability to see. So it's no wonder he doesn't
preach Christ. If he can't see Christ, how is he going to point
you to Him? If he can't see Christ, how is he going to describe Christ
and His glory to you? He doesn't know what Christ looks
like. He's never seen Him. God hadn't given Him sight. And
you know, that's the way all of us come into this world, isn't
it? We're all born spiritually blind. Well, if I'm blind and
I'm following a blind guy, what's going to happen? What's going
to happen if one blind fella is led by another blind fella?
Look in Matthew chapter 15. Nothing good is going to come
of it. We know that. It's a disaster waiting to happen, isn't it? In Matthew chapter 15 verse 7, ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah
prophesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with
their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their hearts
far from me. But in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Now this is what a blind
man teaches. He doesn't teach the word of
God. He teaches the commandments of men. A false prophet always
teaches a man's idea. Maybe they teach the historical
church doctrine or something. But they never teach, they never
preach the pure, unadulterated, sincere Word of God. Never. They
don't see a message in it. They're blind. And that kind
of preaching is always vain to your soul. It's worshiping in
vain. It's of absolutely no use to your soul whatsoever. Read
on, verse 10. And he called the multitudes
and said unto them, Hear and understand. Not that which goeth
into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth a man. Now the Lord had to point that
out because this is what blind false prophets are teaching.
They don't understand what sin is. They think sin is something
you eat, or something you drink, or something you look at, or
something that you do. They don't understand what sin
is. And they don't understand, they
don't see. How can God save sinners and still be God? How can God
save sinners and still be holy? They can't tell you because they
haven't seen. They think that denying things that the flesh
likes to eat, or denying things that the flesh enjoys, they think
that will somehow please God and make God happy with you.
They think if you give up something, if you sacrifice something of
the flesh, God will be pleased with you. Now you listen to me. God's not pleased with that.
There's one sacrifice God's pleased with. It's the sacrifice of His
Son. You immediately know my man's
a false prophet if he's telling you to give up something of the
flesh. Because God's only pleased with one sacrifice. The sacrifice
of His Son. But these men can't tell you
about that because they haven't seen it. So all they can tell
you about is the flesh. They've not been born again.
They have no concept of what a spiritual man is. All they
know is the flesh. So that's all that they can tell
you about is the flesh. Now, that's their message. What
will happen to you if you follow them? Verse 12. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. That's what's going to happen
if you follow the teaching that salvation's got anything to do
with you. You're following the blind leader
and both of you are going to fall into the ditch. Both of
you are going to fall into hell. These are blind watchmen. What's
the job of a watchman? The job of a watchman is to stand
on the tower and watch and see if danger is approaching the
city. They're blind watchmen. How can they warn you about the
danger, the ditch you're getting ready to fall in, if they can't
see it? They're blind watchmen. But what
about Christ, that prophet? Christ, that prophet, is the
light of the world. And you know, He came to give
light to His people. And when we talk about light,
we mean being able to see. He came to give spiritual sight
to the spiritually blind. He gives His people sight. And
you know what they see? They see we're sinners, Christ
is the Savior. I see my need of Him. That's
what they see. Look at John chapter 9. John 9, verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I'm coming to this world, that they which see not might see,
and they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, they
knew exactly what he was saying, didn't they? They said, are we
blind also? Are you saying we're blind? Jesus
said unto them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. But now
you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remaineth. See, Christ came to give sight
to the spiritually blind. Them which see not, He gives
them sight. Those who know that they're blind,
those that know, I'm blind. I can't give myself sight. Somebody
else got to give it to me. Christ, that prophet, always
gives them sight. And those who think they can
see, they say, I don't need anybody to give me sight, I see. Christ
always leaves them alone. Now, what does that mean? Well,
he says, if I don't give you sight, you're still in your sin. Therefore, your sin remaineth.
And if I give you sight, you'll have no sin. You'll have no sin
because God gives you eyes to see. What do you see? you see
Christ as the sacrifice for your sin. That prophet, the one who
gave his life for you, you see him as the sacrifice of your
sin. That's how your sin is taken away. And that's the message
that God's preachers always preach. Look and live. Look to Christ
and live. Look to Christ and be forgiven.
We preach Christ crucified. Period. He's our message. Because if you follow Him, you
won't fall into the ditch. You won't fall into hell. Third,
false prophets are ignorant. You know, I was looking over
this again this afternoon. Rather than get mad like I was
as I began looking at these verses on Monday. It's sad, isn't it? It's so sad. The state that we're
in, if God doesn't have mercy on us, they're ignorant. Rather
than be so mad at them, we all feel sorry for them. They're
ignorant. But Christ is the wisdom of God. He came to give His people
wisdom and understanding. Isaiah said they're all ignorant. Now, a minute ago we talked about
seeing. To see means to understand. If you see what I'm saying, it
means you understand what I'm saying. But false prophets don't
see it. They don't understand. They don't
understand because they're ignorant. And they're ignorant because
God hadn't taught them. False prophets are all ignorant of
three things. They're ignorant of many things,
but these three in particular. They're ignorant of humanity.
They are ignorant. They don't know. Man's dead in
sin. That's why they try to get you
to do something. They think you can. They don't know. They're
ignorant that man is dead in sin. They're ignorant of who
God is. They don't know God's holy. They
don't know God's not impressed with the fleshly things that
we do. They think that God can somehow,
you know, overlook your sin or accept the best you can do because
they don't know God's holy. And false prophets are always
ignorant about how God saves sinners. They have no idea how
God can save sinners and still be just and justifier. They're ignorant. And they're
ignorant. Because they're ignorant, they
can't understand. They don't know how to lead.
They don't know how to protect God's sheep. Look here in the
middle of verse 11. He talks about the shepherds.
And they are shepherds that cannot understand. Now what does that
mean they're a shepherd that cannot understand? Well, they
can't understand how to lead the sheep. And I'll give you
an example how you can tell somebody does not know how to lead the
sheep. The legalist. Do you know why he says, how
can you get people to stay in line if you don't threaten them
with the law? We've got to preach some laws. We've got to give
people some laws. We've got to threaten them with church discipline.
If we don't do that, how are they going to stay in line? How
are you going to get people to stay in line? How are you going to
get people to do good works if you don't always tell them your
good works are going to outweigh your bad? How are you going to get
people to give? How are you going to get people
to faithfully give if you don't tell them you've got to tithe? God's law says you better tithe
10%. You've got to give your 10%. How are you going to get
people to be faithful to attend a worship service if you don't
teach them about the Christian Sabbath? You better not do anything
on the Christian Sabbath. You know why they ask all those
kinds of questions? Because they don't understand the nature of
a sheep. When you preach the law and you preach man's works,
if that's going to be your message, you know what you're going to
end up doing? You're going to end up being a goat herder, not
a shepherd. You have to drive goats with
the law, but you don't drive sheep with the law. You lead
sheep with God's grace. See, they don't know anything
about the character of the sheep. They're ignorant of God's grace.
They're ignorant of the sheep. So instead of preaching Christ,
you know what they do? They have to talk to the flesh. They tell
people how to live. They tell people how to have
better lives here on earth. They tell people how to get rich
and have lots of friends and do all those things. But they
never teach you how to die. They never teach you the way
of salvation in Christ. They tell you things about this
fleshy life, but they don't tell you anything about spiritual
life. They teach you how to have friends, but they don't teach
you how to win Christ. They can put you through a lot
of religious ceremony. They can do things that seem
impressive to the flesh. This tells you the flesh, right?
They put you through this ceremony and they do it. They've got the
smoke and the candles and the mirrors and all the stuff they're
waving around. And they chant to you in a language
you can't understand. And that's supposed to be impressive.
I go down to Mexico and I hear all these people talking in a
language I cannot understand. And it makes me feel uncomfortable,
like, I don't know what's going on. That's what they want. That's why they're talking to
you in a different language and doing all this sleight of hand
with the smoke and the mirrors and all that stuff. Doing lots
of religious ceremony that impresses the flesh. And they never tell
you how to be washed in the blood of Christ. That's so sad. And
they can't tell you. They're ignorant. They use the
law as a way to make people righteous. They tell you. You know, in the
Apostle Paul's day, Saul of Tarsus kept the whole law. I mean, all
of it. Today, we've got it whittled
down. We just pick out one or two, you know, keep this law
and God will be happy with you. But when they, not only are they
ignoring God's holiness and the totality of his law, they're
using the law all wrong. To say if you keep the law, you'll
be made righteous, that's using the law incorrectly. God didn't
give us the law as a way we can earn a righteousness. God gave
the law to show us how sinful we are and to drive us to Christ. So when somebody uses the law
as a way to earn righteousness, they're using the wrong tool.
And the best example I could think of is this. They're using
a screwdriver to try to see if the board's square or not, if
a joint in the board is square. Well, you got the wrong tool.
You don't need a screwdriver. You need T-square. And if you're
going to use a screwdriver to tell if the board's square, it's
never going to work. You're using the wrong tool.
If you use the law and the ceremonies to try to make yourself righteous,
it'll never work because you're using the wrong tool. That's
not why God gave the law. And that's the way these false
prophets are. That's the way every son of Adam
is. We're ignorant and we'll stay that way unless God teaches
us something. Thank God he does. He teaches
his people. He gives his people wisdom and
understanding through the Lord Jesus Christ. These false prophets
are ignorant. But who's Christ? Well, his very
name is wisdom. That prophet has wisdom and understanding. And God sent his son into this
world so that people would know who God is. Eternal life is knowing
God. And the only way we can know
God is by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Matthew chapter
11. I'll show you that. Matthew 11 verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. God hid these things from the
people who thought they were so wise they didn't need to be
taught. But those who knew they were ignorant, oh, He revealed
these things to them. Why did He hide those things
from the wise and prudent? Verse 26, because even so, Father,
it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
Me and My Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.
And He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." See, we only
know God by knowing Christ. Christ reveals God to us. You
know how we know God's holy? Look at His Son. You know how
we know God is just? Look at His Son. When His Son
was made sin, The Father put His Son to death because He's
holy, because He's just. You know how we know that God
loves sinners? Look at His Son. You know how we know that God
is gracious and merciful to sinners? Look at His Son. Look at His
Son crucified. That's the lengths that God went
to. to show mercy and grace and love to his people. We know God's
character by looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. We know how God
saves sinners by knowing Christ, by seeing Christ's righteousness,
by seeing the sacrifice of Christ. And that's why God's preachers
always just preach Christ. Because what we want, the false
prophet wants you to know him. God's servants want you to know
Christ. So we'll only preach Christ to you. Four. False prophets are dumb dogs. But Christ is the Word of God.
Look back here in our text, verse 10. His watchmen are blind. They're
all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs. They cannot
bark. Now a dumb dog is not a stupid
dog. It's a silent dog. A dog that
can't bark. Now what good is a watchdog if
he can't bark and warn you about danger? You know, I get the image
in my mind, you know, they're blind, they're ignorant, they're
dumb. I get the image of this lazy hound dog, you know, somewhere
down south and it's a hundred degrees and that dog, you're
laying over in the shade. And the thief comes in, just
breaks in the house and steals everything, takes everything
out of there and the dog just looks up and watches him go because
it's just too hot to get up and do anything about it. And then
your friend comes over and they bite your friend. That's these
false prophets. They stay silent about important
issues, but they bite and devour. They bite at God's service. And
I'll give you an example out of today's newspaper, Joel Osteen. Man is a false prophet. He actually
made this statement. He said, well, Jesus isn't the
only way to salvation. He's afraid to say it. He couldn't
really say Jesus is God because that's going to offend the Jews
and the Muslims and everybody else. He's not the only way to
salvation. We can take some different routes
and get to the same place. Somebody that says that's a false
prophet. There's no argument about that.
I don't care who it offends. This is the truth. Jesus Christ
is the only way of salvation. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He's the only
Savior. Salvation comes through faith
in Christ alone. and to be silent on such an important
issue as how your eternal soul is saved, and how a sinner is
made righteous, how sin can be forgiven, is being a dumb dog. What good are you? If you can't
tell me those answers to those important issues, sit down and
let somebody else who can preach to me. But aren't you thankful? That's those false prophets.
I'm going to give you something to be thankful for. God's not
silent on these important issues. He's not silent on how sinners
are saved. God sent his son, that prophet,
the Word of God, so we would know how God saves sinners. In
Christ, the Word is never silent. He always reveals the truth to
his people. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. There's the way of salvation,
plain and simple. Everybody can understand exactly
what he was saying. The Word, that prophet said,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. There's the way of eternal life,
plain and simple. Do you want the answers to all
these important questions? Christ is always the answer.
He's the answer to every important issue. If you want the answer,
look to Christ. That's why God's preachers always preach Christ
as clearly as we can. Because I don't care what your
question is, you all come from doing a lot of different things
today. Different backgrounds, everything different. But your
one need is Christ. So as clearly as we can, I'm
telling you, I don't care what your problem is right now, Christ
is the answer. He's the answer. That's why we
preach Him. He's the Word of God. Fifth, false prophets love
to sleep. Christ, that prophet, always
accomplishes His will. He's always accomplishing it.
Look here at the end of verse 10. Sleeping, lying down, loving
to slumber. Now there are a couple things
here. A false prophet, he loves to lie down and sleep. He loves
a life of ease. But the ministry is not a life
of ease. It's hard work. Hard work. That prophet experienced that
from a very young age. What did he tell his parents?
He made this so plain to them. Wish ye not, I must be about
my father's business. I've got work to do. I've got
no time to waste. Don't you know that? And that
work, the Savior's work was the redemption of His people. That's
why He set His face like a flint toward Jerusalem. He wouldn't
be turned left or right. He's going to the cross. He's
going to go give His back to those that would beat Him. He's
going to go give His cheeks to the smiters. He's going to go
give Himself over to the will of sinful men because He's going
to accomplish the salvation of His people. He had a job to do
and He did it. These men loved to slumber. Christ,
that prophet, never slumbers. He's redeemed his people, and
he lives to ensure their redemption. Look back at Psalm 121. Psalm 121, verse 4. Behold, he
that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. Because he's never slumbering
or sleeping, the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
by night. Because he's not slumbering or
sleeping, the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall
preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in. This time forth, even forevermore. Because he never slumbers or
sleeps. Now that false prophet, I'll
tell you, he can enjoy a life of ease. And you know why he
can enjoy it? Because he does not care. He
doesn't care about the glory of God, and he does not care
about the people that he preaches to. They're just merchandise
to him. God's preachers do not live a
life of ease. They don't. They work hard in
the study. I work hard in the study. Y'all
work hard too. You work hard in your job, I
work hard in mine. But I tell you why I'm driven to work so
hard in the study. I live in mortal fear of letting
God down. I just live in mortal fear of
that. And I live in mortal fear of letting you down. I live in
mortal fear of that. God's preachers, they don't have
a life of ease. They spend much time in prayer
and study and work because we care for your soul. Oh, I care
for your soul. That's why we preach Christ to
you. Secondly, this thing about them loving to sleep means this.
When he's preaching, this false prophet, when he's preaching,
he's just talking in his sleep. A false prophet tells his dreams. He doesn't dare declare the word
of God. Look over at Jeremiah chapter 23. A false prophet tells
his dreams. He's just talking in his sleep. Jeremiah 23 verse 25. I've heard what the prophet said
that prophesied lies in my name, saying I've dreamed a dream.
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy
lies? Yea, they're prophets of the
deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget
my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor,
as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet
that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What's the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord. No matter what these false prophets
are doing, what God's saying here is, you just keep preaching
my word. What does it matter to you what they're doing? You
preach my word faithfully. But these false prophets, they
just, they tell, they might not literally, sometimes they do,
they don't always just tell you what they, I dream this, you
know. But they're telling you the things that they come up
with out of their own head. You know, they try to convince
you with human logic. And those ideas that make up
our own heads make about as much sense as somebody talking in
their sleep. But God's servants don't do that. They always faithfully
preach the clear, sincere Word of God. Aren't we thankful God
sent somebody to speak to us plainly and clearly from the
Word of God? Because that's where life comes
from. Here's the sixth thing. False prophets are greedy dogs
who are never satisfied. But Christ, that prophet, is
satisfied. Verse 11, yea, they're greedy
dogs which can never have enough. Now false prophets are greedy
dogs. It doesn't matter how much he has, he always wants more. That's why so many of them become
so wildly wealthy. They just keep pushing people
to give them more, give them more, give them more, give them
more. They keep promoting themselves. They get a bigger following.
And they very carefully tailor their message to fit more and
more and more people. They very carefully tailor their
message so it doesn't offend anyone, so nobody will leave
them. Because that would defeat their
purpose. Their goal is to try to get a bigger following. So
they don't want to say anything that will offend anyone, so everybody
will stay and be part of their deal. Now you beware of a so-called
preacher who says, we can get along with every doctrine. I
mean, it doesn't matter what it is. If it's the Muslims, if
it's the Jews, if it's the Catholic, if it's the Protestants, it doesn't
matter. We can get along with everybody. You beware of that
man. You beware of that man who says,
oh, we can get along with people from every way of life. It doesn't
matter what they're doing. It's all right. I tell you the
reason they never call sin, sin. And the reason they never call
wrong, wrong. is they don't want to offend
anybody and run them off. That's why they'll never tell
anybody they've done anything wrong. Because they want to keep
everybody following them. If everyone can like your message,
no matter what it is they believe, you're not saying anything. Isn't
that right? Because the truth will always
offend the flesh. If nobody's ever offended at
what you're saying, you're not preaching the truth. Because
the truth always offends the flesh. And you know our Lord,
that prophet, didn't do that. Never. Look at John chapter 6.
Here's a very good example of what I'm talking about. Christ,
that prophet, always told the truth, no matter who was offended. John chapter 6, verse 60. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? When Jesus knew it himself and
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Does this
offend you? What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It's the spirit that
quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing.
Well, that's offensive to the flesh, isn't it? The flesh profits
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
their spirit and their life. But there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given
him of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him." Now, can you imagine
a false prophet saying that, seeing those people go back and
they're going to walk no more with him? He said, no, no, no,
no, wait a minute. I didn't mean to say it like
that. I didn't mean that. I'll get it better next time.
Christ, that prophet didn't do it. He let him go. Christ, that
prophet was not greedily trying to get as big a following as
he could get for himself, was he? What was he doing? He came to save his elect. He
came to reveal himself to his people. He came to reveal himself
to those that he knew. Well, here's the second thing
about these false prophets being so greedy. It's their doctrine
that leaves them greedy. And it's their doctrine that
will leave everybody who's following them spiritually greedy. When
are you greedy? You're greedy when you feel like
you don't have enough of something, right? Well, preaching that salvation
depends on you doing some good things is going to leave a person
greedy. Because it doesn't matter what
you do. You're not righteous enough. You're not good enough.
You've never done enough. And it leaves you always grabbing
for more, just like a greedy dog. But Christ, that prophet,
is satisfied. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. Christ only died for his left,
and he saved every one of them. And he'll never be disappointed,
because not one of them will be lost. He's gonna have them
all. And do you know that everyone
for whom Christ died is satisfied? You're not greedy spiritually
because you're satisfied. How can you be greedy when you
have everything? You're complete in Him. Here in John 6, you know
why the Lord could speak this way and why He didn't run after
people trying to stop them when many left Him and went back and
walked no more with Him? He could let them go because
He knew His people will always be satisfied with Him. Look at
verse 67. Jesus said under 12, Will you
also go away? Can you imagine a false prophet
saying that? You boys are free to go if you want to. Will you
go away? God's people won't because they're satisfied with Christ.
Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life and we believe and we're sure that Thou art
that Christ, the Son of the living God. We're satisfied with the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm completely satisfied. to have Christ be all my righteousness
and me not contribute to it at all. I'm completely satisfied
with that. I'm completely satisfied with salvation in Christ alone,
through faith alone, by grace alone. And you think you're satisfied
now? One day we'll be satisfied when
we awaken His likeness. And every one of His people will
because He's satisfied. He'll see the travail of His
soul and be satisfied. Now here's the eighth thing,
last. False prophets are always concerned with this life. In
Christ, that prophet is concerned with spiritual life. Verse 12. Come, ye say they, I'll fetch
wine, and we'll fill ourselves with strong drink, and tomorrow
should be as this day, and much more abundant. Now these fellows,
they're not drunk on wine and strong drink, they're drunk on
man's religion. They say, well, let's just keep
doing what we're doing, you know. And tomorrow will be even better
than today. Let's keep doing what we're doing
and we're just going to keep accumulating things and tomorrow
will always be better than today. They say, well, tomorrow let's
have this big party. Fill ourselves with this. Get
drunk on man's religion. Now, God doesn't want you to
be poor. God doesn't want you to be unhappy. God doesn't want
you to have times of sorrow. God wants you to be happy. God
wants you to be wealthy and have a big party all the time. Now that's just not dealing honestly
with people. That's just telling a lie. Christ,
that prophet, is honest with his people. He says, for you
follow me, you count the cost. Isn't that what he said? We looked
at this Sunday, Philippians 1.29. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to what? Also suffer for his sake. Look
at Hebrews chapter 11. These are people We know without any doubt they're
God's children. They're God's people. These are
saved people, people that God loved, people that Christ died
for. Hebrews 11, verse 36. And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourging, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. Somebody
took a saw and sawed them in half. They were tempted. were
slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of
whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and dens and caves of the earth." Now, you just
go find those people and you tell them, smile. God wants you
to be happy. God doesn't want you to have
pain. God doesn't want you to be sorrowful. Just have a more
positive outlook and you'll start having a happier, richer life.
That's not dealing honestly with people. These things did not
happen to them apart from the will of our God. But they're
in real pain, aren't they? So what can I tell them? They're
in pain, they're suffering, they're full of sorrow. Yes, this life
is not all there is. Yes, this life is temporary,
but pain is pain. Being sawed in half, being sawed
in half, being beamed, you know, you're in pain. Nobody wants
those things. What can I tell people in that
situation? You look to Christ. You look
to Christ. Look at verse 35. There's something
better. He says, women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
There is a day, a better resurrection coming. We're going to be awakened
in a body just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those
who are suffering and in sorrow, you tell them this. Tell them
what the Lord said. God's people are going to mourn.
Blessed are they that mourn. They shall be comforted. Not
they might be comforted. They shall be comforted. So you
see those distinctions, those opposites? False preachers are
only concerned with the flesh, the here and the now. They say,
well, tomorrow will be just like today, only better. God's preachers
tell you, no, tomorrow won't be just like today. There's a
day coming when there will be no more tomorrows. But today
is the day of grace. So seek Christ while it's still
today. Seek Christ. Don't seek religion. Seek Christ. Don't seek religious
ceremonies. It just makes you feel better
about yourself. Don't seek somebody that will just, you know, pump
up your flesh. You seek Christ, the Savior of sinners. Don't
seek religion that just gives you ways to make this life better,
to win friends and influence people. You seek Christ, who
is eternal life. That's who we're to seek. God
help us to see Him and be found in Him. Let's bow and pray.