13th chapter of Mark's Gospel
the disciples having observed the great temple in Jerusalem
are told by Christ that it will all be brought to nothing there
shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown
down all the building of man all the religion of man all the
glorying of man shall be brought to nothing in the end. The disciples ask him, when these
things shall be? And the Lord says unto them,
take heed, lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And when
ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled,
for such things must needs be, but the end shall not be yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there
shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. He describes how the children
of God will be brought into the synagogues and beaten, how they'll
be brought before rulers and kings for his sake as a testimony
against them. But the gospel must first be
published among all nations. He describes the persecution
and opposition which will come, and he says, 20. And except that
the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. 21. But for the elect's sake,
whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 22. And then
if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he
is there, believe him not. 23. For false Christs and false
prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce,
if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed, behold
I have foretold you all things. He then goes on to talk of his
return. of how the sun shall be darkened,
the moon not given light, the stars of heaven shall fall and
the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall
they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power
and glory. And then shall He send His angels
and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from
the uttermost parts of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree, he says. When a branch
is yet tender and put it forth leaves, ye know that summer is
near. So ye, in like manner, when ye
shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even
at the doors. Verily I say unto you that this
generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour,
know if no man. Know not the angels which are
in heaven, neither the son but the father. Take ye heed, watch
and pray, for ye know not what the time is. For the son of man
is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority
to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the
porter to watch. watch ye therefore for ye know
not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight
or at the cock crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly
he find you sleeping and what i say unto you i say unto all
watch watch so he tells us of his coming of the end of the
earth as we know it, of his gathering in of the elect, of how we don't
know the hour or the day or the time when he shall return and
the importance as the children of God to be diligent and to
watch for he shall return and this earth shall be destroyed
and judged and the sheep shall be separated from the goats the
elect shall be divided from the wicked he will gather in his
people and this world will be no more so he says unto you and
he says unto all watch are you watching? Are you watching? Are you attentive? Are you looking? Are you longing for the return
of Christ? When you wake up, child of God,
each day, are you thinking this might be the day? Is this the
day when Christ will return? Is that your desire? Do you long
for Him to return? Or are you taken up with the
things of this world? Are you taken up with the concerns
of the day? Where you should go, what you
should do, your work, your pleasure, this thing and that thing. Do
these things consume you? So you forget that this world
is just a passing phase. And reality is what is everlasting. And that there is coming that
day when Christ shall return with his angels to judge this
world and to separate the righteous from the wicked. That day is
coming and it is coming fast. And Christ here speaks earlier
in the chapter of things that we shall see as we lead up to
that day. Things that are there throughout
all time. But things particularly that
we see in our day. There are wars and rumours of
wars, nation rises up against nation, kingdom against kingdom,
earthquakes in diverse places, famines and troubles. And the
children of God are persecuted, not simply in the world, but
in religion. They're brought up in the synagogues
to be beaten. Not only does the world scoff
and mock at those that follow Christ, but the religious world
scoffs and mocks at those who follow the one true Christ. The children of God, the disciples,
will be brought into the synagogues, the churches and beaten. Don't preach that. Don't preach him. Don't follow that gospel and
that Christ. You can follow this one. You
can follow this gospel. You can worship with us and follow
our Jesus. But you come speaking of yours. Yours who will come and return
and bring this world to an end as you say. and we will take
you in our synagogues we will take you in our churches and
we will beat you that is the reality of which Christ speaks
of here the reality of a world in which as he has said there
shall come in his name many who say I am Christ and shall deceive many a world
in which Many shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he's
there. For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed. Behold, I have
foretold you all things. For false Christs and false prophets
shall arise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed. Behold, I have
foretold you all things. So Christ makes plain to his
disciples and makes plain to us today As time goes on, there
shall be many who come in his name. There shall be many false
Christs spoken of. There shall be many false prophets,
false preachers in the churches. There shall be many churches
that call themselves Christs, that say they follow Christ,
that say they preach Christ, that say here is Christ, lo,
here is Christ, lo, he is there. who are false. Their Christ is
false. Their prophets, their preachers
are false. They seduce. They have signs
and wonders. They entrance, they intrigue,
they entertain. They deceive. They deceive many. And if it were possible, they
deceive even the elect. But the elect, having been foretold
by Christ that they shall come, hear him, and another they cannot
hear. They hear the good shepherd,
and when the highling comes, the false shepherd, they will
not follow, because they've heard his voice first, and he's warned
them. And he said, there will come
many, there will come many who are false. False prophets, false
Christs, false churches. Now we live in days where there
are many, many churches that take the name of Jesus Christ.
And many of them will gather together in an ecumenical frenzy
of saying, we're all one in Jesus Christ. We're all different but
alike. Different churches, different
names, different ways of worship, but all serving the same God. We're all one. We're all united. And not only
will the ones that take Christ's name unite in such a way, but
they try to take all religions and say we're all essentially
serving the same God. We have different ideas of who
God is and different ideas of how we get to heaven, but we're
all one. But in proclaiming their unity,
in proclaiming their oneness, in proclaiming their Christ and
their God and their salvation, they do in fact deny what Christ
has said will come to pass. Because Christ has not declared
that there will be one united church, all with many variations,
but all one in him. He's declared that there shall
be many Christs, and many false prophets, many churches that
take his name, which shall deceive and lead to destruction. So either
they are all true, as their one united ecumenical church, all
following Christ with differences, but all one, or they are false. False Christ, there are many
gospels, each preaching their own Christ. Some, we can clearly
see. Some we can take the scriptures
and read the scriptures and hear what they say and say well that's
not according to the scriptures. Who you say is Christ, the Christ
you describe is not according to the scriptures. And they are
blatant in their errors. The scriptures declare that Christ
is God. the Son of God, the eternal Son
of God, that the Son of God, the Word of God from the beginning
was made flesh, that He became a man, that the Son of God, the
person of God took upon Himself human flesh and a human soul
and that one divine person was born a man of Mary. of imperfect humanity, truly
man and truly God, yet born of the Holy Ghost, without sin. Now there are many who call themselves
Christian, many who say they follow Jesus, many who will say
that they follow the Bible, who deny that, in part, or in entirety. There are many who will deny
the divinity of Christ. They will say he's a man. He
was this man who did this and did that and preached this and
preached that, but he was not truly God. There are others who
will say he is God, but he was never truly man. He doesn't have
a soul like we have. There are those who will deny
that he was born of a virgin. There are those who will deny
that as God, the Son of God, He was eternal from the beginning,
that the Word was there from the beginning, one with the Father,
that He was the Son of God eternally. There are those who will claim
that in eternity He was in a different essence, a person in the Godhead but not
the Son, that He only became the Son when He was born. There are many who will claim
this and that, but they deny His person as the eternal Son
of God from the beginning. And whatever they may say in
saying they follow Jesus, their Jesus is not this Jesus. He's not the Jesus that spake
to the disciples here. He's not the Christ who foretold
them of what would come. He's another. He doesn't fit
with what Christ is. They give him the name Jesus.
They talk about him as Christ. They say various things about
him. They will follow the idea that he walked around and healed
many and healed the sick and that in the end he was crucified.
But he's not the Christ that the disciples knew. He's not
the Christ that the disciples heard. He's another. He's a false
Christ. Now some of these are easy to
discern. Their contradictions with the
Scriptures are blatant. They flatly deny many of the
things that the Scriptures make plain. There are those who deny
the virgin birth, even though the Scriptures make plain that
Christ was born of a virgin. There are those who deny the
resurrection, even though the Scriptures make plain that He
rose again the third day, that He truly died. and truly rose
again. There are those who attack his
death and say that it was just a picture, a representative picture
of a man suffering for others but they don't truly believe
he died or they don't truly believe that he bore the sins of his
people and that's what caused his death. They call their Jesus,
Jesus. They call their Christ, Christ
but he's not the Christ that spake here. And then there are others who
will agree with many things, but who deviate in a much more
subtle manner. Oh, they have a Christ and they're
Christ. Yes, indeed, he's the son of
God. Yes, indeed, he was born of Mary. Yes, indeed, he died. Yes, indeed,
he rose again. But again, they deny his words. Christ says that he laid down
his life for the sheep. He died for the elect. He speaks
here unto his disciples, the elect, and he says at his coming
that he will gather in the elect from the four corners of the
earth. He says that those, that many will be deceived by false
Christs and false prophets, but not the elect. He speaks of a
chosen elect people, the sheep. a particular people for whom
he died, and for none other. And yet there are many who will
claim many things, and be oh so biblical, and yet they attack
his death. And they say that he didn't just
die for the elect, but he died for all. And those who are saved
are those who choose to follow him, who choose to receive him,
who accept him, but he died for all. and they deny his words
when he speaks of a chosen people, a chosen generation, an elect
company, the sheep not the goats. They undermine what he teaches
so that goats can suddenly become sheep when they make a decision.
When Christ plainly teaches in John 10, to the Pharisees that
you do not believe because you're not of my sheep. The sheep hear
and believe. The goats always reject. Goats
never become sheep and sheep never become goats. There's a
chosen generation. Yet for many they have a Christ
who died for all. And yet all aren't saved. So
their Christ is a failure. Christ saves all whom He came
to save. Christ is God, He's victorious. He does exactly what He chooses
to do. He's all-powerful. Everyone for
whom He suffered and died will be saved because He suffered
and died for His elect, for the sheep, for His people, for a
particular people whom He knew by name. and whose particular
sins he bore and suffered for, he knows exactly whom he will
save, because he took them, he died with them, they were spiritually
united with him, he knew them by name, he knew who they were,
they were wed to him, they were one with him, he was there on
the cross and they were there with him. When he suffered and
died upon the cross, Saul, Paul suffered with him. Christ was
one with Saul. He knew who Saul was, he was
one with him. Saul was in him. He wasn't just
a name he knew of, but Saul was there in Christ's heart, one
with him, united to him. And Christ bore Saul's sins. And having taken them away, he
rose again with him, he who he would call Paul, the other side
of death, cleansed, washed clean with a new name, because he was
changed. But Christ knew him. Christ was
there upon the cross, hanging upon the cross with David in
his heart, bearing David's sins. Christ was there upon the cross
with Peter in his heart, bearing Peter's sins. And James and John
and all his people, all particular, all named, all known to him,
he died for them, not for all. And all for whom he died, he
saved. He saved. If he died for all,
he would save all. But we know that all are not
saved. We know that all are not saved. We know that all don't
believe. We know that many perish rejecting
God and rejecting Christ and rejecting the gospel. Then he
never died for all. And those who preach it, preach
a lie. And their Christ who died for
all is not Christ. The Jesus who hung on the cross,
who loves all and extends his arms out, wanting all to come
unto him, pleading with all to come unto him and accept him
and believe on him, is not Christ. He's a figment of their imagination. He's a deception and a creation
of false prophets who preach a false Christ. He's not Christ. Yet they claim many things that
are very similar to the truth. Their Christ came. Their Christ
was born of a virgin. Their Christ died. Their Christ
rose again on the third day. But their Christ died for all.
There are yet those who go even further. Their Christ died for
all, and his death was sufficient for all, but is sufficient only
for the elect. Reading of the elect in the scriptures,
they come up with a Christ who only in the end saves the elect,
but whose death was sufficient to save all. So they accommodate
the election of God whilst trying to pretend that the death of
Christ was sufficient for all and the deciding factor again
becomes whoever those people believe. This is subtle, but
really it's blatant. It's the same as the former. Christ died for all. They give
lip service to the election of God. They say that ultimately
the death of Christ, the blood of Christ is applied only to
the elect. But it was there ready and waiting to be applied to
whomever received him. Christ makes plain that his blood
was shed for his people. He died for the sheep. And that's
why all the sheep are saved. Yes, there are many Christs,
false Christs, and false prophets that rise up, who show signs
and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. And many of these Christs seem
very, very similar to the true one. But there's still another. There's still another. Oh, how these false prophets
in our day unite together as one church, one ecumenical church,
all claiming to follow Jesus. Oh, they have different ideas,
they have different ways of worship, but they're all one. But as I've
said, their claim to be one denies what Christ teaches us plainly
here. He says there will be many false
Christs. So if you're all one, where are
the false Christs? If you're all united and there
are many roads to God, where are the false Christs? Where
are the false prophets? If there aren't any, if you're
all right in your various ways, if you're all united and true
in your various ways, despite your differences, you're all
together, you're all ultimately following God, where are the
false Christs then? Where are the false prophets?
You've denied my word. In your desire for unity and
papering over all the cracks and the differences, in your
pretense to be one, You've proved that you are all false. because
Christ has plainly said, he's foretold all things. Take heed, behold, I have foretold
you all things he says to his people. There will be false Christs
and false prophets. If any man shall say unto you,
lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. He's
either me who they describe, or he's not. If their Christ
is not me, If their description of Christ is not a description
of me, Christ says. If what they say is different
in any manner from what the truth is as I have foretold you, then
they are preaching another Christ. And they are another prophet.
There will be many false Christs and many false prophets. If there
are many false Christs, then they are preached by false prophets,
those who declare and speak of these Christs. The Christ who
is not truly God. The Christ who is not truly man. The Christ who only became the
Son of God at his birth or at his resurrection. The Christ
who is not the Son of God eternally. The Christ who did not truly
die for the elect. The Christ who did not truly
die. The Christ who did not truly
rise again from the dead. The Christ who did not truly
bear the sins of his people. The Christ who did not truly
bring about a true and a full redemption of his people the
Christ who died for all and not just the elect if these are your
Christs and there are many of them then there must be many
preachers of them where there are many false Christs there
are many false prophets false prophets how shall you know them? How shall you discern them? Well
firstly, these false prophets and preachers of false Christ
clearly never knew this Christ or were never of this Christ.
If they knew him, they rejected him. If they heard his word,
they believed it not. But he never sent them. He never
made them to be prophets. He never put his word in their
hearts and sent them forth with it. He never delivered them from
their sins. He never washed them with his
blood. Because if he did, they wouldn't
preach another Christ, they would preach him. They wouldn't be
deceiving others, because they wouldn't be deceived themselves.
So they're not of Christ, they've not been sent of him, they've
not been taught of him, they don't know him. So they've sent
themselves. And in sending themselves into
the churches to deceive many, they serve themselves and not
Christ and not the people of God. They're there because what
they do makes sense to them. They're serving themselves, they're
finding a career for themselves. They like the applause of men.
They like to be stood up and to have people follow them. They
like to have the power to lead people a certain way. They entrance
people. They captivate them because they
show forth signs and wonders which seduce. Well, false Christs
and false prophets shall arise and shall show signs and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Well, the elect
aren't seduced by them, but many others are. And that's the day
and age we live in. How many churches there are with
how many prophets and preachers in the midst where the people
are seduced. They stand up, and they lead
the worship, and they lead the congregations, and they tell
them this, and they tell them that, and the people are seduced.
So in spite of the fact that the Christ they declare is not
the Christ of the Scriptures, in spite of the fact that what
they say is not ultimately true, What they do say, and the way
in which they say it, is captivating. It's appealing. It's appealing. People like that. They like these
prophets. They like their Christ. They
like their churches. They like their worship. They
like their message. It's appealing. If it wasn't,
the people wouldn't follow. But it's appealing. There are
many churches, we see, with a great appeal unto many. Generally the
appeal is greater the more the churches are like the world.
The more the world's music comes into their worship, the more
the world's entertainment comes into their worship, the more
the world's means and manners of leading public speeches comes
into the manner of their preaching and their teaching. The more
they ate the world, the more the worldly loved them. So they
have their charismatic meetings, they have their community churches,
they have their family churches, they have their entertainment,
they have these churches which appeal to the society as a whole
because it gives society as a whole what it wants. It has the music
of the world, it has the entertainment of the world, it has the friendship
of the world. It gives them a social base. It gives the world somewhere
to go, where they can have friends and security and those that care
for them and those that are concerned for them in their everyday lives.
They're not too worried about the Christ that is preached.
or the message which is preached or the doctrine which comes forth
from these prophets because what appeals is what these people
offer them for their everyday lives. It gives them a place
to go on a Sunday where they can gather with many others and
be entertained and feel the love and warmth of others. It gives
them a base and a meaning and an order for their lives. It
gives them a place to be entertained and to worship and to sing like
they like to, which has a focus on something which seems more
moral and upright and worthwhile. Better to go and to speak and
to praise and to sing regarding God and regarding Jesus than
just to sing love songs in the world about others that come
and go. So it's very appealing and it's very seducing. and they produce signs and wonders.
Their gospel, their Jesus, does wonderful things, which the people
like to see. But they don't preach Christ.
And they don't preach the true Christ. They may speak of a Jesus.
They may speak of a Jesus born in Bethlehem, particularly at
this time of the year. They may captivate those that
want to think of nice things. They may speak of a Jesus who
went about healing the sick. They may speak of a Jesus who
loves everyone and loves you and wants to lead you in your
life. They may speak of a Jesus who died and rose again to bring
peace to the world. They may speak of a Jesus who
died for all and wants all to be saved. They may say many things,
but all that they do, all that they bring is a deceit for it's
not the Christ that foretold of the deception that would come.
They don't like to preach of the Jesus that warned that there
are those false prophets who shall come who will preach a
false Christ and a false message which leads to destruction. They
don't like to speak of the Jesus who repeatedly spoke of hellfire
and the condemnation to come. Hell and the judgment to come
for our sins is something they like to steer clear of because
that doesn't appeal to the world, that affrights, Offends the world. That leaves many away. They don't
like to speak of the election of God because that offends the
pride of man that God should choose to save some and pass
others by. That salvation isn't in your
grasp or in your control, but in God's. The reality of a sovereign
God and a sovereign saviour is an offence to many. So they bypass
it. And they don't like to preach
the cross as the scriptures preach the cross. Because the cross... The crucifixion of Christ, the
message of the cross, and the doctrine of the cross is an offense. So they can say everything you
like about the morals in the Bible, the Ten Commandments,
how we live, how we worship, how we live our lives, what we
should do. They can say everything they
like about Jesus, and his teachings, and his morals, and his love,
and his kindness. But when it comes to his cross,
and what happened at the cross, and for whom he truly suffered,
and how he suffered, and why he suffered. When it comes to
the reality that he went to the cross because of the total depravity
of sin that is in man, the utter fallen state of man, the deadness
of man, the death of man, the sin that's within man, that man
is a sinner through and through that he's full of sin that he
can't help but sin that everything he does and thinks and says is
sinful and that is why Christ had to die because to deliver
such a people one had to die for that sin when it comes to
that sure and certain message they become gray and murky and
fuzzy and avoid the clarity because it's here that they do not like
it, there's an offense. They don't like that Christ only
died for his sheep and not the goats. They don't like a Christ
who doesn't stand wanting all to be saved but comes victorious
and died for a people and preaches to that people and gathers in
that people by His Holy Spirit and quickens them and brings
them to life and puts faith in their hearts and causes them
to believe and to hear and causes them to follow. They don't preach
a Christ who's effectual in His salvation. A Christ who came
for his people, suffered and died for them and saves them
in the end. A Christ who endured hell upon
the cross, the torment of the damned, the torment of God's
true and strict justice against the sins of all his people throughout
all time. Christ truly died and he suffered
a death that you cannot imagine. But it's a death that you will
suffer if you know Him not. If you follow a false Christ,
and trust in a false Christ, and trust in the message of one
of these false prophets, then you will know what Christ endured
when you begin to endure it in eternity. You'll know something
of what He suffered. You won't know quite what He
endured, because you'll suffer for your sins. But He suffered
for many. He suffered for many and He was
innocent. When you suffer in hell because
of your rebellion and your hatred of God, if that's where you end
up, you will know that it's right and it's true and it's just and
it's because of what you've done, you've earned it. But when Christ
suffered, He suffered for the sins of others. He hadn't sinned. He was suffering because He stood
in their place. He said, don't punish them, punish
me. He stood in their place. A substitute for sinners. He stood as an absolute substitute. He bore what they deserved to
bear. He died the death that they deserved
to die. And having risen again, he sent
forth his prophets, his disciples with this message. a message
which is rejected by many, a message which you will not hear from
the false prophets with their false Christ, who come with their
wonders and signs to seduce. They are those who deceive, for
they can do nothing else As such, they too are subtle in their
deception. Just like the false Christ can
be subtle, these preachers of him can be subtle. They come
as angels of light. They pretend to be serving God. They pretend to be serving you. They pretend to be righteous.
They come with much of the truth, as much of the truth as possible. Satan will send them forth with
as much of the truth as he can get away with. He'll make them
as near to the truth as he can possibly get at times. But mixed
in with it all are deviations here and there. Their Christ
is not this Christ. They deceive. But they don't
deceive the elect, for it is not possible. For the elect,
the sheep, are in Christ's hands. And none can pluck them from
Him. None can take them out of His hands. They're His. He's suffered for them. He's
shed His blood for them. He's cleansed them. He's washed
them. He's delivered them. And He's spoken unto them. they
know him, they've heard his voice, they've walked with him and he's
spoken unto them and like these disciples he's come unto them
and he's foretold them all things he said I will return and in
the last days these things shall happen before I return and when
you see false Christs and false prophets arise don't follow them
They're not me. Don't believe them. If a man
shall come unto you and say, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he
is there, believe him not, because it's not me. You've heard my
voice. You know who I am. You know my
gospel. You know the truth. Then when
they come claiming to be me, or claiming to be sent of me,
or claiming to be a preacher sent of me, but they preach something
else. They preach another gospel. They
preach a gospel in which salvation hinges upon your decisions. or
your works, your righteousness, a gospel in which you need to
live a certain way, when you know you can't. when you know
you didn't, when you know you were lying in the gutter in squalor,
unable, without strength and you needed someone to save you,
when they come with their gospel, their gospel of works, their
gospel of the will of man, don't follow them, don't believe them. When they describe a Christ that
wants everyone to be saved, reject them because you know it's not
me. You know it's not me. No, the elect won't be deceived
because the elect know Christ. Because they know Him. They know
Christ Himself. This is why they can discern. This is why, child of God, you
can discern. You can see that there are many
false Christs in the world because you know that they are not the
Christ you know. You can tell there are many false
prophets in the world because they come preaching a gospel
which is not the gospel you've heard, not the gospel you know,
and not the gospel that brought you life. That's how you can
tell. You've heard him. The elect have
heard Him. They've seen Him. They've seen
Him by faith in the Gospel. God has given them faith. God
has come by the Gospel, come with the Holy Ghost, come with
the Gospel, and used that Gospel to quicken them unto life. He's
put faith in their hearts to believe it. and when they believe
it, when they hear the voice of Jesus Christ, when they were
there in the grave and Christ came by and spake and like Lazarus
they came forth and followed him, when they've heard his voice
and the power of the Gospel, and the power of the Word of
God, the same Word which spake in the beginning and the creation
came into being, light shone in the darkness, the world came
forth, the stars were scattered in the firmament, the sun and
the moon were created, the life was brought forth on the earth,
the lands were separated from the sea, and all living creatures
were created and man was created on the sixth day. When they've
heard the voice of the same God, the same Saviour, the same Christ,
the same Word of God that spake in the beginning and brought
all that forth, when they've heard His voice. and they who
were dead lived and they come forth as a living being a living
being with eternal life in their hearts one with Christ when they've
heard His voice and walked and followed Him when they've stood
up as the lame man that stood up healed and followed Him when
they've opened their eyes as a blind man whose eyes are opened
by Christ to see when they hear as a deaf man whose ears are
touched and they hear His voice when they rise up as a dead man
that's made to live. By this Christ, through his gospel,
when they've heard him, they cannot hear another. They cannot follow these other
false shepherds. They've heard the good shepherd.
He's come their way. He's touched them. He's healed
them. He's saved them. And they cannot hear these false
shepherds. They can see they're false. They
can see they're in it for their own interest. They can see they're
preaching another Christ. They say that's not the Christ
I know. That's not the Christ in the
scriptures. Once I might have believed you.
Once I couldn't tell. You came with your Bible and
you spoke of a Christ and you said many right things and it
seemed right, I couldn't tell. But now I know, because the true
Christ has taken his word and made it live into me. And I know
who he is. And I know that you're not of
him. And I know that your Christ is not him. Your Christ is not
Christ. They won't be deceived because
they've been foretold of these false Christs and these false
prophets. They know they will come and
they're watching for their coming. And when they come they see them
and discern them and know them and turn from them. A false Christ
and false prophet shall rise and shall show signs and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed,
behold, I have foretold you all things. They've been foretold. O false prophets, you cannot
deceive these, because these sheep, these poor wretched sheep,
that you despise, that you drag into your synagogues in your
churches and beat up. These poor wretched followers
of Jesus Christ that you reject because they won't follow you
and they won't bow down to your false gospel and they won't serve
in your church and they won't have followed the way that you
say they should go. These poor wretched people that
you'd cast out and trample underfoot like you did with the Christ
their master in the beginning. These poor sheep have been foretold
of you, so they will not hear your message. O false prophets,
you will not deceive the elect because Christ has foretold them.
They've been foretold by Christ himself. They've heard the true
Christ, the only Christ, the only true and living God. They
know the one who is Christ. They know the one who is true.
They know the one who is truth himself. They know the Christ
who has come from God. They know the one who preaches
the gospel, who wrote the gospel. and who send that gospel by his
prophets, those prophets whom he calls, those prophets whom
he sends, and those prophets in whose mouths his word is placed. They've heard them, they've heard
his voice and his message through them. They know him. and his
care for them, his care for his elect, is such that he has foretold
them of all that shall come to pass. They're ready. They watch. They watch for His coming. And
because they watch for His coming at the end, they know that before
He comes, false Christs and false prophets shall come, seeking
to deceive. But they know who they are, and
they will not follow. Then who will you hear? Who will
you hear today? Who are you following? Who are
you hearing? What Christ do you believe in?
If you're his elect, then you will hear him and no one else. You won't be deceived. You will
hear and you will embrace the gospel, the gospel of grace,
the gospel of a sovereign God and a sovereign savior who saves
whom he wills, because he pleases to, because he with everlasting
love has set his love upon them, and he will love them to the
end. You will hear his gospel, the gospel of grace, the gospel
of election, the gospel of Christ. if you've never heard him, if
you've never seen him if you come to these things with your
own understanding and your own wisdom then when one comes and
says, lo, here's Christ lo, there he is, off you'll go to this
one and to that one off to this church, then off to that church,
then off to the other church seeking God and never finding
him Seeking Christ and never knowing Him. Oh, you know all
about Him. You know all that the Scriptures
say about Him. You know all that you've been
told about Him. By this one and that one. This
church says this thing and that church says the other thing.
The Catholics say this thing. The Brethren say that thing.
The Methodists say that thing. They each have their message.
They each have their way. And this one agrees and that
one disagrees. And you go off after that and
you go off after that. But you never know Christ Himself.
Maybe you've come to see that this church has another Christ
and you've rejected that one. So you've gone off after this
one and your knowledge and your understanding becomes more and
more perfect but you never know Him. Ever learning but never
coming to a knowledge of the truth. But if you've heard Him
and you've heard Him foretell you all things and if He has
said unto you as He says unto all, watch And if you are watching,
then you will see. You will see the false Christs
come and go. You will see the false prophets
come and go. You will see many seduced to
follow. But you will stand. You will
endure until the end. You will be taken up into the
synagogues and beaten. You will be brought before kings
and rulers for His sake, for a testimony against them. But
you will stand because you're in Christ and you know Him. You know Him and you know His
gospel. You know His grace. You know
His mercy. You know His love. You know what
He suffered for you in particular. you know what he endured, you
know how great a sinner you are, you know what he must have endured,
what price he must have paid, what sins he suffered for, you
know what you've done, you know what you've said and it melts
you that he should suffer for you in such a way, but you know
he did. because he's come to you and
he's spoken unto you and he loves you and you love him and you
will stand with him and be kept by him as his sheep, as his elect,
undeceived, one with Christ. saved with an everlasting salvation
kept to the uttermost kept to the end kept in the love of Christ
forever and you will stand and you will watch and you will wait
and one day he will come and you will be gathered up and you
will stand with him forevermore to stand around his throne and
to cast your crown before him and to worship the Lamb of God
which was slain from the foundation of the world the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world, the Lamb of God who
loved you and gave himself for you. Amen.