Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to Luke chapter 21. We're looking at the first 24
verses in Luke chapter 21. I read these verses for you last
week and I'm going to rely on you to read them again today,
this afternoon, when you get time to read over these verses. And we're going to be continuing
this study for the next couple of weeks on different lessons
taught in these verses. There's eight lessons in all.
I may combine some. I'm just going
to wait and look at them. Some need to be taught alone.
Some I can preach more than one at a time. Now last week we considered
two. how the Lord sees and how men
see. The Lord saw the widow out of
her penury put an offering in a plate. The men, all they saw,
here's the Son of God. They just witnessed everything
that He had to say. They've been following Him ever
since the beginning of His ministry and all they could see in the
temple of worship was the stones. How beautiful the stones. They
were taken up with the building. Just looking at the stones and
the gifts and all the things that went into the building of
the temple. And then the second lesson that
we looked at last week is that everything we see is set for
destruction even such things as are used of God. In this particular
case, they were enamored with the temple, with the building
of it, and the beauty of it, and the size of it, and the great
stones that went into it, and how those stones were carved
somewhere else. And there's books written that
just go on and on and on about the building of the temple. But
I've read those books. And they weary you because they
never talk about who the temple is. The temple is just a type.
It's just a figure of Christ. And they're just enamored with
the building. And he tells us in this lesson that not one stone
is going to be left upon another. In that day, total destruction. And especially those things used
of God as the tabernacle, the temple, and so on. Now the next lessons have to
do with the disciples' question concerning the last day. He shocked
them a little bit when he told them that nothing in that temple
was going to be left. It was going to be totally destroyed,
violently crushed. And they said, well, when shall
these things be? Tell us when these things shall
be. Now before we get into our lesson,
let me say again that we're living in the last days. People want
to talk about the end times, the signs of the times. When
shall these times be? Man's always been taken up with
such things. And that's what they told him. But we're living in the last
days, aren't we? It says in Hebrews chapter 9, Once in the end of
the world, not the beginning of the world, not the middle
of the world, but once in the end of the world hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. His death on the
cross marked the last days. It marked the fulfilling of all
the types, all the symbols, all these pictures. He was the fulfillment
of those things. And we're living in the last
days. In 1 John 2, verse 18, the apostle writes, little children,
it is the last time. It is the last time. We're not
looking for the last time. We're existing in it. We're living
in it. It's happening right now. The
last time. In Hebrews 9, 26, I just quoted
to you, once in the end of the world. And then in our text,
in verse 6, the Lord says, as for these things which you behold,
these things that you're so taken up with, the days will come in the which
they shall not be left one stone upon another. They shall not
be thrown down. And they said, well, when shall
these things be? And what sign? Will there be
when these things come to pass? Verse 8, And he said, Take heed
that ye be not deceived. Why were these men so taken up
with the stones of the temple? They were deceived. They were
deceived. He said, take heed that you be
not deceived, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Christ, and the time draweth near. Go ye not after them. The next lesson our Lord will
have us learn has to do with not being deceived concerning
himself. Jesus is the Christ. Men have always been infatuated
with the end of the world, and many have speculated concerning
the day, one in the last couple of years, pinpointed a day, had
the whole country in an uproar watching for this day. And of
course, that day came, it wasn't the end. But let me say this, the day
and the hour would be of little or no consequence if we know
not the Son of God that's coming. If you knew He was coming Tuesday,
what good would that do if you don't know Him? It's all about knowing Him. It
ain't about Tuesday, it's about Him. It ain't about next Thursday. It's about knowing the Son of
God. To know Him is eternal life. What did He say to those who
perished in the end times? What does He tell us in the book
of Revelation? What does He tell us about those
men who stand before Him and say, now wait a minute, wait
a minute, don't... You can't judge us, you can't send us to
hell. We preached in your name. We
prophesied in your name. We've done many wonderful works.
Here's what He tells us. Depart from Me, you workers of
iniquity, Now listen, I never knew you. I never knew you. You talked about knowing me,
but I never knew you. And I'm going to tell you, those
he knows will come to know him. They'll come to know him. The day and the hour will be
of little or no consequence if we don't know the Son of God
who's coming. And it was much the same concerning
his first appearance in the world. There was a running debate for
hundreds. Well, actually, it's still going on, so I could use
the term thousands. A running debate, thousands of
years, concerning his advent, his coming. Jews are still looking
for his coming. Everything God has promised to
chosen sinners, everything God has purposed concerning the glory
of His name, everything behind creation, time, and providence
is tied to the person of Christ. Yet no one's interested in Him,
just events that are to come. Ephesians 1.10 talks about the
dispensation of time, in the dispensation of the fullness
of times. He shall gather together unto
him all things, both which are in heaven, which are on earth,
which are under there. He is, now let me tell you something. Now dispensation is not talking
about different periods of time. That word dispensation has to
do with stewardship. If you prefer the word economy,
use the word economy. It means stewardship. He is the
steward of time. All time is committed to him.
He's going to put one foot on the land and one on the sea.
And what's he going to say? Time shall be no more. He's the steward of time. And
he talks about this dispensation, this stewardship of time. And
it's a thing trusted to the Son to mediate the sovereign will
of God. He's going to perform, fulfill,
do the will of God. I come not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And that will is to gather
together in one all things in Him, both which are in heaven,
which are in earth, even in Him. And these men knew every detail
of His birth, and nothing of Him what was to be born. They
could tell you anything you want to know out of the prophets concerning
his birth. The king asked them, where is
he going to be born? Well, he's going to be born in Bethlehem. They could tell him
anything and everything concerning that time, concerning that period. Isaiah cried this, who hath believed
our report? We gave a report. We talked about
His coming. We talked about Him. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord? That's Christ, isn't it?
He's the arm of the Lord. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? He's despised and rejected of
men. They wouldn't have Him as the
Christ. He didn't fit their mold. He didn't fit their idea of the
Christ. He was despised and rejected
of men. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And he's going to grow up before
God as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. You
ever seen, boy, it gets hot down here. And I love the garden. And boy, you know, I'll start
some seeds in the house, and I'll take them out, and boy,
they're so tender. And that hot sun hits, and boy, they just
wilt to the ground. Isn't that what he's talking
about here? He'll grow up before God as a tender plant and as
a root out of dry ground. And when we shall see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. He's just another man. Just
another man. And it's all about him. It's
not about the day or the hour. And that's why they missed the
first advent. They weren't looking for him.
They were looking for a place and a time and a rule and a governor
and a king, and they're looking for all these things, but they're
not looking for him. He said, if you don't believe
me, believe me for my very work's sake. The prophets told you all
about it, told you about the forerunner. You didn't know him
either. Be not deceived, for many will
come in my name, saying, I am Christ. And this is a sign of
the end drawing near, and we're warned not to go after these
false Christs. And there's a long list of men.
You can look it up on the internet if you'd like to chase rabbits.
There's a long list of men who pretended to be Christ, both ancient and modern. There's
a whole list of them. You can go read all about them.
Talks about them in the book of Acts. This one man, he had
a little group together, and they watched him. And after a
while, he fizzled out, and so on. These are men who used that pretended
office to fatten their wallets or to fulfill their lusts, their
fleshly lusts. There was one down in fact guilty
of that. He was supposed to be the Christ.
And certainly they shall continue to pop up from time to time until
time runs out. But there's a deeper warning
here than these hucksters, these pretenders. And the warning here
is about Christ of great deception. I don't see the multitudes being
deceived by men like that guy down there or others. Father Divine, you go on and
on and on. There's a whole list of them.
But turn with me to Matthew chapter 24. Over and over in Matthew 24,
our Lord warns about false prophets, warns about their false gospel,
and warns about their false Christ. But here's what I want you to
see, Matthew 24, verse 24. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect,
those who do have the revelation of Christ. So deceptive, Russell,
that they could fool, if it were possible, they could fool the
very elect. These were not obvious shams
and pretenders, but Christ that could nearly deceive the very
elect of God. False religion sets before men
false Christ they always had. That's what they're all about.
They set before you a false Christ. Come to Jesus. I'd like to know
how many times I've heard that. They come, Paul said, preaching
another Jesus, another Christ, another promised Messiah, another
gospel, and they do it with another spirit. And they're foretold
both by our Lord and his apostles who call them anti-Christ, anti-Christ,
against Christ. And these false Christs are after
the working of Satan, he tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2. They're
after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders. Men were not taken up with the
man, and I really don't like to mention men's names because
it just adds to their fame, but I'm going to use him anyhow.
His name is Billy Graham. And people were enamored with
Billy Graham, not because of Billy Graham, not because of
his speaking abilities, but for what happened. And they thought
he got up there and preached and all these people just started
flooding down the aisles, but that's not how it was. They had
committees of men from churches who went out and worked in those
neighborhoods for months before Billy Graham ever came there.
And they were setting these men up And this is what he's telling
you. It's after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders. And people see
it. They want to be a part of it. The Lord's Christ gets all the
attention. It pleased God that in Him should
all fullness go in. He has the preeminence. It doesn't upset the Father that
Christ has preeminence. He designed it that way. But these false Christs, people
are enamored with the things that they do, things that they
say. Power and signs and lying wonders. And there's many false
gospels and false Christs set before men and women in our day. There's a gospel and a Christ
set forth by the liberals in our day. They'll talk about their
Christ. My sister was one of them. I
know what I'm talking about. I've had many conversations with
her. He's a social do-gooder. Their
Christ is a social do-gooder. He is in himself not really God. He's not really God. His incarnation, his virgin birth,
and resurrection are all things to be looked at kind of in an
allegorical sense, not in a You don't look at it as an actual
fact. God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. No, you just understand it's
just a type, it's just another picture. Actually, their Christ is a questionable
character. I've read many articles that
they wrote suggesting that he was a man who loved women. Yet many are deceived into believing
on such a Christ. And then there's a Christ set
forth by cults. Most generally, he's a good man.
Just listen to him talk about him. He's a good man. He teaches
morality. He's a prophet. Sometimes he's
even a sort of a god, except he always receives his
existence from one greater than He. Our Lord didn't receive His
existence by one greater than He. He said He thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, didn't He? And then there's the
Christ of Catholicism. Catholics teach that Jesus Christ
is God. They teach that. They teach that
He came into this world as a man, that He suffered the wrath of
God on the cross, And he suffered as a substitute. And that he
died, was buried, and rose from the dead, and ascended back into
glory. But they contradict their teaching
and make their Christ an incomplete Savior by teaching the need of
your good works to finish His work. And the intercession of
the church on behalf of Him who sits in glory, the Scripture
said, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, but they've
got Mary making intercession for you. And all these saints. And some of them even to special
things, like Saint Christopher. And you can go on and on with
all these different saints. Actually, they make the church
their savior. They make Mary the mother of
God and all the saints to be mediators. Yet the scripture
said there's one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. And then they add to this confessions. You're going to go in this little
booth and make confessions to a man that you call your father,
whom you're forbidden to call any man father. in a spiritual
sense, and yet here they are in a booth calling him father
and confessing their sins to him. They add confessions, sacraments,
holy days, and they insist that these are necessary to salvation.
Take heed, our Lord said, if you be not deceived. And unlike
the cults, Catholicism has deceived hundreds of thousands. And then
what of the charismatic churches? Their Christ has done the best
He can do and now it's all up to you. I've sat in their pews
and heard them say it. Their interest is not in the
personal work of Christ, their interest is in the Spirit. They
live in a spiritual realm, unknown tongues, spiritual gifts, prophecies,
miracles, the list goes on and on. Yet the Bible says when the
Holy Spirit comes, He won't speak of Himself. But that's all you
hear them talk about. And if you hear a man and that's
all he's talking about. I'm talking about a preacher
on the radio, on the TV. A friend of yours invites you
and you go and this man's talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He don't know the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them
unto us. That's what the Scripture says.
When he comes he won't talk about himself. He won't do it. Everything they teach and do
is a denial of the personal work of Christ and a denial of the
work of the Holy Spirit. Take heed that you be not deceived. But if I consider all of religion
as a whole, false religion is antichrist in its preaching. They set before fallen sinners
a Christ that cannot save. Now here's the thing, you want
to know, is this man preaching the true Christ to me? Tell me,
can he say it? In Isaiah 45, 20, he says, they
make images and pray unto a God who cannot say it. To my knowledge,
and I've heard, I played the guitar, traveled, sang in churches,
I was in every kind of church under the sun. And to my knowledge,
I never heard one of them preach a Christ that can save. He can temporarily save you. I can save you today. But tomorrow, all up to you. What's the sense of praying
to a God who can't save? You might as well pray to the
floor. It can't save either. Images are but the outgrowth
of the imagination. An antichrist religion sits before
men and women, an imaginary Christ. They'll tell you in a heartbeat
if you get into an argument with them. They'll tell you real quick,
my Christ ain't like that. Oh, so you have one, and I have
one, and that guy has one. Well, which one's the real Christ? Antichrist religion sets before
men and women an imaginary Christ, a Christ born of satanic influence
and fallen reason. He's a Christ whose hands are
tied by men's free will. He can't do anything, Russell,
because of your free will. And his power stayed by men's
decisions. And his work made of none effect
by man's lack of concern. One of the biggest shocks of
Bible truth to me in my conversion was the revelation of the true
Christ compared to the Christ that I heard preached my whole
life. I was shocked. It just didn't seem possible. And I go into the Word of God
to see if I couldn't find some text that would disprove it. And every time I read a text,
it just laid more evidence to the fact that this is the true
Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, and I'm telling
you, it's critical. It's critical to know who Christ is. Who is this Christ? Jesus of Nazareth is God. And
his condescension into the flesh did not in any wise minimize
or water down his deity. He could do anything in the person
of that man that he could do in glory. Is that right? He's God. He told Pilate, he said, I could
call on my father right now, and he'd send how many? I forget
the number. 10,000 times 10,000. He'd send
a host. All I got to do is ask. He'll
send them. But that's not what he come to
do. Come to die on that cross. He got angry at the Lord. And
Pilate said, don't you know who I am? Well, who he was wasn't
important. It was who was talking to him.
He said, don't you know who I am? I have power to destroy you. I have power to set you free. What did the Lord tell him? You
don't have any power at all, except it was given to you of
my father. You're doing exactly what my Father wills to be done,
even in your sin and rebellion. He's God. Jesus Christ is God. Listen to this. This is written
over in the book of Colossians chapter 2. I'd rather you read
the whole passage. Just start at the beginning and
read on down and read this. But here's what he sums it all
up. He said, in Him, talking about in Christ, He's already
told us all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him.
Everything's in Him. And then He tells us, in Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in Him. The Jesus of Holy Scripture,
the Jesus, the Christ of God, is God. He's God. He said to Thomas, I am. Now if you read through the book
of John, you're going to keep running on this, and you'll see
that the he, at the end of it, is always in italics. That means
you can lift it out without damaging the scriptures. And each time
he talks about it, he's telling them, I am. I am. I am the good shepherd. I am
these things. I am the way, the truth. Back yonder when Moses was going
down there to Pharaoh, he said, who should I tell them sent me?
He said, tell them I am sent you. And those Jews knew exactly
what he was saying when he said, I am. I'm the truth, I'm the
life, I'm the way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And you cannot come as a son
to his father but by him. Our sonship's in him. Is that
right? Having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. Only way I can
come before God and call Him my Father is in Christ. You cannot come to any understanding
of the Father but by Him. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal. And you cannot come
to the Father seeking forgiveness but by Him. Is that right? He's the basis
of all forgiveness. Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
God come into the flesh, God our Savior, God our Redeemer,
God our Maker. And as God, Paul says, He is
the firstborn of every creature and He is the image of the invisible
God. No knowledge of God apart from
Him. And then Paul wrote to Timothy and said, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. That word is godlikeness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received
up into glory. And then he follows that statement
with this. The Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. When
they want to know about the last days, the Lord said, be not deceived. Be not deceived. What's going
to deceive them? Not knowing Him. It's not just a matter of this
church teaches this doctrine and this church teaches that
doctrine. We're talking about two different Christs. Two different
Christs. And there's only one that saves. And there's churches out here,
I'm not going to name them, but there's churches out here that
will preach the exact doctrines that I'm preaching to you. Unconditional
election. particular redemption. They're
going to preach these doctrines to you, what men call Calvinism. But they deny the Christ that
they preach with their own works and in their own ways, they deny
Him. Speaking lies and hypocrisy,
having their consciences seared with a hot iron, and if it were
possible, they would deceive the very least. And Paul said, therefore we labor
and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who's
the Savior of all men. Uh-oh, you messed up now, Preacher. He's the Savior of all men. Well,
in what sense is He the Savior of all men? He's the Savior of
all men in that He feeds all men. He saves you from starvation
by providing food for you and water for you to drink and a
house for you to dwell in. He gives to you the light of
creation and conscience and gives them protection from the elements
and so on. And He's the Savior of all men,
giving them their being and their breath and preserving their lives
in this world. But He said especially of them
that believe. And just as He provides for the... He causes His reign to fall on
the just, especially on the just and the unjust. You see what
He's saying here? Jesus Christ is God and He sits
at God's right hand and orders all things by the Word of His
power. And His coming into this world
was to do the will of God, Hebrews 10, 5. Wherefore, when He The promised
one, the Messiah, the Christ, that's what we're talking about.
Don't let people deceive you. When he cometh into the world,
he saith, that is, his very appearance saith, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. What kind
of a body? A substitutionary body. A representative
body. And his body was pictured by
the lamb that they sacrificed, and goats, and so on. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure,
then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it's written
of me, to do thy will, O God. The Christ of God came to do
God's will. It's God's will for him to die
on the cross. old Rex Humbart, he was a TV
preacher, kind of charismatic. And he got up there one Sunday
and he was in tears and his nose was running and he was sobbing
and carrying on. And he said, if I had been there,
I'd have stopped him. Stopped him? The devil himself couldn't stop
him. God purposed his death. And if
you read Acts chapter 4, you'll see where God predestinated everything
that happened there. And they did what God's counsel
and God's hand determined before to be done. Oh, he said, by the witch will,
the doing of the will, just as it's testified in the Scripture,
by the witch will were sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands at daily
ministering, offering off times the same sacrifices, which could
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of
God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by
one offering he hath perfected forever those that he sanctified. Take heed that you be not deceived.
Many are going to come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and
the end is near. Go not after them. And what I'm
telling you, I'm over my time and I know it, but this is so
serious. This is so serious. John said,
whosoever transgresseth, abideth not in the doctrine of the Christ,
hath not God. Boy, that's plain, ain't it? That's plain. He don't have God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father
and the Son. And if there come any unto you,
and bring not this doctrine, this Christ, this gospel, receive
him not into your house, and don't bid him Godspeed. What's
that mean? You can't go through a checkout
line anymore without somebody saying, the Lord bless you, or
have a blessed day. That's what this is talking about.
That man comes and he brings another gospel, don't you tell
him the Lord bless you now. Don't you tell him that. Now
you've become partaker of his sins. You've put your hand on
his back and said, it'll be all right. I need some time to think
about it. You know, I don't want to cause
a scene, but tell him, hit the road. Hit the road. A bunch of these deceivers came
up to my house and I told them out front, no. I said, no, I
ain't interested. And I went over there with my
weed whacker and I turned around and they done went up the driveway
and was up there talking to my wife. She didn't know that I'd
already talked to her. I went up to her and hit the
road. I said, I meant for you to leave. Get! And she said,
well, you didn't have to be so unfriendly. And I read her that
scripture. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. If somebody's up there lambasting
your father or your sister or your mother, you put your foot
in their butt and tell them to hit the road. But these men, why do we want
to be so soft about it? Why do we want to be so understanding
about it? Might be we don't know the truth.
That's why we're not offended. But I tell you, it's serious.
It's serious business. And that's what the Lord's telling
me. It ain't about a day. It's about who's coming. I went
to prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come and get you
again. That's what this day's all about. The rest of it's going
to be terror, trouble, catastrophe, elements melting with a fervent
heat, sinners being cast into hell. All things come to an end. No more time, no more mercy,
no more grace, no more preaching, no more anything. You either
are or you're not. That's what the gospel's all
about, isn't it? And that's what he's telling
them. Oh, God Almighty, help us learn this lesson in Christ. Be not deceived. Be not deceived.