I want to read from 1 John chapter
4, and our subject for this morning is a very important subject,
and I'm going to be preaching the gospel, as I hope I always
do with whatever subject I'm dealing with. But I want to talk
about false prophets. What does the Bible have to say
about false prophets? John says in 1 John chapter 4,
beginning in verse 1, Believe not every spirit. And by that he's talking about
preachers who claim to preach from the spirit of God. Believe
not every spirit but try. Test the spirits whether they
are of God. And he's going to give us a way
to test them. But he says because many False
prophets are gone out into the world, not a few, but many. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth,
this is a public confession, every spirit that publicly confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of anti-Christ. Where you've heard that it should
come and even now already is it in the world. John tells us
there are many false prophets. And it is critical that you and
I be able to discern a false prophet. And if I do not discern
a false prophet and go along with his message, I will have
the same end he will. The false prophet will be damned,
and if I follow the false prophet, I will be damned right along
with him. Now, when a bank is robbed, the
getaway driver is not the robber, but he's just as guilty as the
robber. And if I follow a false prophet,
I am just as guilty as that false prophet. John says, Beloved,
believe not every spirit. By spirit he's talking about
preachers, whether they're inspired by the spirit of God or by the
spirit of Antichrist. Every preacher claims to be a
spirit. Now don't be gullible. Don't
think that just because they use the scriptures that they're
of God. Satan used the scriptures in
the temptation of Christ. He quoted a psalm trying to tempt
Christ. And every false prophet is going
to use the scriptures. They're going to take them out
of context. They're going to twist the meaning, but they're
using the scripture. So don't think that because a
man is preaching from the scriptures, he's a true prophet of God. And don't think because they're
speaking of righteousness or right living or using the word
righteousness or Anything like that, that makes them true prophets.
Listen to this scripture in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 11, or verse 13. For such are false apostles. There are plenty of them. Deceitful
workers. Transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. Now these are servants of the
devil, but they're coming as the apostles of Christ. And no
marvel. For Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore it's no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness,
human righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Now Satan's main sphere of operation
is in the pulpit. Not in the bars and crack houses.
He just leaves those people to themselves. But where he is working
actively is in the pulpit using false prophets. Now John says
test these spirits. Put them to the test. I think
of that scripture in Isaiah 820, if they speak not according to
my word, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not
according to my word, it's because there's no light in them. Test the spirits, whether they
have God, whether they're from God, whether they're sent by
God. Jeremiah warns us of prophets
that prophesy lies in my name. This is what God said concerning
them. They prophesy lies in my name, and I sent them not." Paul
said, how can they preach except they be sent? If God didn't send
a man, he's not going to have the message. Now, I've said this
before. There's only one type of preacher I want to hear preach,
and he has these three characteristics. Number one, it's got to be a
man actually sent from God with God's message. Number two, he's
got to be a man who lives what he believes. I'm not interested
in what he says if he doesn't live what he believes. You know
a false prophet? You can tell them by the way
they act. They're covetous men. They're arrogant, proud men desiring
power over people. He's a false prophet. Don't have
to look any further. But third, I want to hear a man,
first, that's sent from God with God's message. Secondly, that
lives what he believes. But thirdly, I want him to have
my best interests at heart. I don't want to be a part of
his program or a part of his ministry. I want him to have
my best interests at heart, where he wants me to know the Redeemer. That's what he wants from me.
He wants me to be saved by the grace of God. Now, he gives us
a very simple test by which we can try a man to see whether
he's sent of God. Look in verse two. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God. Here's how you can know. Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and
this is that spirit of Antichrist." Now, there's always been many
false prophets. We're going to get back to what
verses two and three mean in a few moments, but there has
always been many false prophets. John says it, many false prophets
are gone out. Peter said, but there were false
prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies. If you believe them, by that,
Peter says, you will be damned if you believe the heresies they
bring in. Now, the false prophet may be
a really nice guy, and false prophets generally are, and he
may not know he's a false prophet. He may think he's speaking for
God, but his message is not according to the scriptures. When the Lord
exhorted us to enter in the straight For he said, wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there
be that go in there. But straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that
find it. The next thing he said is, beware
of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. They
try to come in a right way, looking like they're sent from God, but
within they're ravening wolves. When Paul was giving the farewell
address to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, he gave these
words in verse 29, after he had declared the gospel, he said
in verse 29, for I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. Every day for three years, crying,
he warned them about these false prophets who would come. And
then he says, now brethren, I commend you to God. He says, I know I
can't keep you, but I commend you to God in the word of his
grace. which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all of them which are sanctified. And here's how he ends. I've
coveted no man's silver, gold or apparel. Now, one thing that
every false prophet has in common, they're covetous and they want
your silver and they want your gold and they want your praise,
and they want your esteem, and they want you to look at them
in a very high way. They're covetous men. You know, these preachers that
preach health, wealth, like it's God's will for you to not be
sick and to have plenty of money, and they don't know God. They're
men who are dominated by covetousness, have never bowed the knee to
the Lord Jesus Christ. They're false prophets. Now, who is the arch-false prophet
of the Old Testament. Well, three times in the New
Testament we read of him, both in 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation
2, where the Lord warned about him, talked about the doctrine
of Balaam. Balaam is considered to be the
arch-false prophet. And if you read Numbers 22-24,
the story is the king of the Moabites, Balak, wanted Balaam
to curse the children of Israel. And he said, come curse the children
of Israel. He was afraid of them. He thought they were getting
too big. He thought they would take them over. So he said, curse the children
of Israel. And God wouldn't let Balaam do
it. Now, if you read Numbers 22 through
24, you'll find out that everything Balaam said was correct. It could be, and usually is true,
that everything a false prophet says is correct. It's what he
leaves out. Our Lord warned of those who
omit the weightier matters of the law. It's what the false
prophet fails to say that he leaves out because he knows what
it will cost him. So he doesn't say it. He states truth in such a way
as he'll offend no one and everybody will be happy. And that was Balaam. It wasn't what he said, it's
what he didn't say. And although he could not curse
the children of Israel, God wouldn't let him do it. We know from what
our Lord said in Revelation chapter 2 that after Balak had left,
he went to Balak and taught him, this is how you can get the children
of Israel in trouble. You marry, you let there be intermarriages,
and they will end up worshiping your gods and God will forsake
them. You won't have to do a thing.
And he influenced them to do that. He influenced them to compromise. That's exactly what that is.
That's compromise. The doctrine of Balaam is the
doctrine of compromise. Now, why does God allow false
prophets? He could keep it from happening.
I'd like to read you a passage of scripture from Deuteronomy
chapter 13, where God says, If there arise among you a prophet
or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and
the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known,
and let us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken to him,
even for what he says came to pass. Thou shalt not hearken
unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for
the Lord your God proveth you. He tests you to know whether
you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians
11, 19, There must also be heresies among you, that they which are
approved might be made manifest." Now, John said, here's the test. Here's how I can know if a man
is speaking for God or if a man is the servant of the devil.
Here's the test. It's a very simple test. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. Now I want to emphasize just
for a couple of moments this word confess. There's something
public about this word confess. You can't confess privately.
Whoso shall confess me before men, him will I confess before
my Father which is in heaven. Whoso shall deny me before men,
him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven. Now the word
confess means to speak the same thing. It's the word used for
the confession of sin. When we confess our sin, we speak
the same thing God does about our sin. We're at agreement with
him. When we confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
saying the same thing God says regarding his name. God says
he's altogether lovely. We say he's altogether lovely.
God says he's the only way of salvation. We agree he's the
only way of salvation. It's to speak the same thing.
It's an admission of guilt. Paul said in Acts 24, 14, but
this I confess unto thee, I plead guilty here, that after the way
which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.
There has to be a public confession. I want to read a passage of scripture
from John chapter 12. It says in verse 42, nevertheless,
among the chief rulers, Many believed on him, but because
of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should
be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praises of
men more than the praises of God. They wouldn't make a public
confession because it would cost them the praises of men. It would
cost them the well wishes and the help of men, and therefore
they would not confess Christ, although it says they believed
in him when they saw the miracles. You know, someone who fails to
confess Christ, you might speak with them privately and they
say, well, I agree with all that. That's what I believe. But is
that what they preach publicly? What a man preaches publicly
is what he really believes. I asked someone recently, I said,
does your pastor preach election, God choosing a people before
time began? He said, well, I don't know, I've never heard him deal
with that subject. Well, that means he doesn't believe
it, that's all it means. A man only believes what he preaches
and declares publicly. And we read of the spirit that
confesses publicly confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh, he's of God. And that one who refuses to confess
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he's not of God. Now,
let's consider this thing of confessing that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh. In that seven-word statement,
we have the whole gospel. And you can test a man by this
statement. Is this what he publicly confesses? Now, first of all, Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. Now, when my daughter was born,
I have one child. When she was born, I did not
announce that she was come in the flesh. We just announced
she was born. You see, to say She has come
in the flesh would be to say she had some kind of existence
before she came. Now to confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is to confess that he was before he came. Do you know Jesus Christ is the
eternal God? He's always been. There's never
been a time that he was not. We read in John 1, one in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. The Pharisees said to him, you're
not 50 years old, and you say Abraham saw your day and rejoiced
to see it? The Lord said, verily, verily,
I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. It was Jesus Christ who said
from the bush that could not be consumed in Exodus chapter
three, I am that I am. Jesus Christ is the eternal God. Whatever you say of the father,
you say of him. He said in John 14, you believe
in God? Believe also in me. Do you believe
God is eternal? I am eternal. Do you believe
God is sovereign, in complete control, the first cause of everything?
I am sovereign. Do you believe God is immutable,
that He cannot change? I cannot change. Jesus Christ
is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Do you believe God
is all-powerful? He has no limitations of power.
Whatever He desires to have, He gets because He's omnipotent.
All power is delivered unto me. Whatever you say of God, you
must say of me. I love that passage of scripture
where the Lord said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And all you and I will ever see
of God is Jesus Christ. He was before he came, the eternal
Son of God. He is before all things. And by him, all things consist. That's what the scripture says.
That's who Jesus Christ is. He was before he came. We're confessing his eternal
deity as God the Son. And really, what you believe
will be determined by who you believe. If you believe Jesus
Christ is God, you do not believe that anything he could do could
be unsuccessful. He's God. Whatever he wills,
he must have because of who he is. Now, if he died for you,
you can't be anything but saved. If he willed your salvation,
if he paid for your sins, you must be saved. If you really
believe he's God, you won't believe this notion that he's simply
made salvation an offer for people up to your acceptance or rejection.
That's not God. God doesn't work that way. Jesus
Christ was before he came. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. That's the second thing. This
one who was before he came, he came in the flesh. Great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I love the way he said without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. There were two
preachers who were brothers and one of those brothers denied
the deity of Jesus Christ. The other believed Christ is
God. And the one who denied his deity
said, I want you to come and preach for me, but I don't want
you to preach on anything controversial. And he agreed, I won't preach
on anything controversial. So he stood up in the pulpit
and said, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He spoke of the deity of Jesus
Christ. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He, the second person of the
Trinity, he had never been flesh before, but he came in the virgin's
womb and lived there nine months as flesh. He was born as flesh,
as a real man. There's one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He was before he came. He came in the flesh and this
also is of critical importance. He did what he came to do. Let me repeat that. He was before
he came. He came in the flesh and he did
exactly what he came to do. He left nothing undone. He said
in John chapter 17 verse 1 in that great high priestly prayer
for his people, Father, the hour has come. He's talking about
the hour of the cross, the hour of his death, the reason the
universe was created in the first place. It was all for this. The
hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also might glorify
thee. He came to glorify his father. He said in John chapter 17, verse
four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the
work. that thou gavest me to do. Now what was that work the father
gave him to do? It's stated very clearly and
simply in the first chapter of the first book in the New Testament,
Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. And that's exactly what he did. He accomplished salvation for
everybody he died for. They were saved from their sins.
He glorified the Father. Now, the false prophet is not
going to say that. For one thing, he doesn't know
anything about doing anything for the glory of God. He says,
well, I want to reach people. I want to reach the culture.
I want to change the culture. I want to see church growth.
I want to win souls for Jesus. I want to be relevant, make the
Bible relevant. Let me tell you this. The moment
a preacher tries to be relevant, he becomes irrelevant. God's
truth is eternal. It's not up to being relevant
or cultural. We preach the word. That's what
God's truth is. It's the word of God. trying
to reach the culture. That's seminary language. Somebody
that talks like that has been taught that in seminary in a
way to ruin somebody, send them to seminary. He doesn't have
understanding of the truth. What does a true prophet do?
He preaches the gospel that Christ finished the work. And here's
what the false prophet is going to do. He's going to make some
of the work unfinished and you have to complete it to make it
work. Christ died for you, God wants to save you, but you can't
be saved unless you accept Him as your personal Savior. If you
don't accept Him as your personal Savior, you won't be saved. The
issue of salvation is not what God does, but what you do. Yes, Christ is your sanctification,
but you need to become more holy through your efforts and your
Bible reading and your prayers and your self-denial. You'll
become more holy. Christ's work of sanctification
is not complete. There's something you have to
do to complete it. Now this is what the false prophet
does. He wants you to look somewhere
other than Christ alone as everything in your salvation. Now if you
hear or hearing a preacher and he's telling you what you need
to do. in order to be saved, you are
listening to a false prophet, someone who does not know God,
someone who's never been taught of God, someone who doesn't know
the gospel. He may use many scriptural words. He may preach from the scriptures,
but he's not preaching the gospel. Now, it is critical that you
and I are able to discern between the true and the false, and the
false always does this. He leaves the burden of some
aspect of salvation upon you. He never declares that Christ
is all in salvation, and every believer is complete, nothing
lacking in him. Now let me tell you what motivates
a true prophet. The false prophets driven by covetousness. The true
prophet has the fear of God. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you write to church, call
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen.