Paul the Apostle said in Titus
1.3 that God has manifested his word through preaching, which
is committed to my trust. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.18,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And he said in Romans chapter
10, How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Now, understand, the preacher
is nothing. There's no such thing as clergy
and laity. The preacher is nothing. But this is a God-called office. The preacher is not above anybody
else, but he does have a specific purpose. God has manifested his
word through preaching. So it's very important that I
understand what preaching is and what a preacher is. Now, Samuel is mentioned in the
Hall of Faith, and I started reading all about the account
of Samuel. and his name means harkens to
God. Samuel was a prophet. Look back in 1 Samuel chapter
3. And Samuel grew and the Lord
was with him and did let none of his words fall to the ground. He never spoke without some kind
of the Lord working through his speech. The Lord was doing something. And all Israel, from Dan even
to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in
Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by
the word of the Lord. Now, I've entitled this message,
What is a prophet? What is a prophet? I need to know. And the reason
I need to know is because there are many false prophets. When our Lord exhorted us to
enter in at the straight gate, the first thing he said after
that, and he's saying to his people, beware of false prophets. And you and I, by his grace,
need to be aware of and be able to discern what a false prophet
is. Beware of false prophets. John said there are many false
prophets that have gone out into the world. Paul said in Acts
20, I warn you night and day with tears about these false
prophets, these men that would come in and draw away disciples
after themselves. Paul said they lie in wait. to
deceive. And Peter says they privily,
by stealth, escaping notice, shall bring in damnable heresies. And if we believe those damnable
heresies they secretly bring in, we'll be damned along with
them. I repeat, I need to know what
a true prophet is. I cannot be saved by hearing
a false prophet. If a man is not sent of God,
no one will benefit from what he says. I cannot be saved by
hearing a false prophet. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Jeremiah chapter 23? Jeremiah chapter 23. Beginning in verse
26. Jeremiah 23, verse 26, How long
shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are 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 is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord,
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore,
behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my
words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He Behold,
I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,
and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and
by their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them. Therefore, they shall not profit
this people at all, saith the Lord." No spiritual benefit can
come from hearing the message of a false prophet. Now, what
is a true prophet? I can figure out what a false
prophet is if I know what a true prophet is. And Samuel was a
true prophet. I read in that passage of Scripture
that all Israel recognized him to be such. They could see that
he was a prophet of God. Now, by definition, a prophet
is one who speaks to man in behalf of God. The word means inspired. A prophet's speech is inspired
by God. A God called preacher is a prophet. His speech is inspired by God,
he speaks for God, and his speech is subject to the word of God.
And this is how you can tell if who you're hearing is a true
prophet. Our Lord said, through the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah
chapter 8, verse 20, to the law and to the testimony, if they
speak not according to this word, the law and the testimony, the
scriptures, it's because there's no light in them. And when you
hear me, I want you to hear and check me and see if I'm preaching
what the scripture actually says. I never ask you to look to believe
something just because I say it. Is this what the scripture
has to say? Now, what is the true prophet? And we're going to look at Samuel,
and I hope we can answer that question. First of all, a true
prophet is someone that has been called by God. To that office,
looking for Samuel, chapter three. Samuel chapter 3. A true prophet
is someone who has been called by God to that office. First Samuel chapter 3 verse
1, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and
the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open
vision. And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down
in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not
see. And there the lamp of God went out of the temple of the
Lord, where the ark of God was. Samuel was laid down to sleep,
that the Lord called Samuel." The Lord called Samuel. And he said, Here am I. And no man takes this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. We have many so-called prophets
that are called by themselves. They're called by their mother,
or they're called by their church or their religious institution,
but they were never called by God. How shall they preach except
they be sent by God, and anything that doesn't begin with God is
no good. Isn't that right? Anything that
doesn't begin with God is no good. God called Samuel to be
a prophet, and a true prophet is made so by God. Now, what constitutes this thing
of the call to preach? Three things. First, a desire. A desire. You know, I've heard
so many preachers say, well, God called me and I ran. I didn't
want to do it. I don't believe that for a second.
That foolishness. There's no truth to that. When
somebody is saying something like that, he's kind of putting
me where God needed me and I tried to get away from him, but he
wouldn't let me go. And therefore, that's how I know if someone is truly
called by God to preach, that's what they want to do. There's
a desire. If a man desires the office of
a bishop, he desires of good work. A true prophet, if he's
called by God, desires that. You know, Jeremiah just said
his word was like a fire in my bones. There's a desire there. But not only is there a desire,
there's a gift. If a man doesn't have the gift
to preach, God never called him to preach. It's as simple as
that. Where there is a call of God, there's a gift, an atlas
to teach, to be a preacher of the word. But not only Is there
a gift? There's also an open door. If
God calls a man to preach, there's going to be people for him to
preach to every single time. If he's not preaching to people,
God never called him to preach. So when there is a call of God,
there's a desire, there's an open door, and there's a gift. Here's my second point. My first
point is a true prophet is called by God. A true prophet hears
what God says. Now stay here in 1 Samuel 3.
Remember, Samuel's name means harkens to the Lord. He hears
the word of the Lord. Now look in verse 4 or verse
5. And he ran unto Eli after the
Lord had called him. And he said, Hear my, for thou
callest me. And he said, I called not. Lie down again. And he went
and lay down. And the Lord called yet again,
Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli
and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered,
I called not my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed
to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he
arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call
me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Therefore,
Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he
shall call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth." That's what Samuel means. Speak, Lord, thy servant
heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in
his place, and the Lord came and stood and called us at other
times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak,
for thy servant heareth. You see, the true prophet does
not have his own message. It is thus saith the Lord. He hears the words of the Lord
and brings them back. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 10.
1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 17. And Samuel. called the people
together unto the Lord to Mizpah, and said unto the children of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel." Now that's a true
prophet's message. He speaks the Word of God. Now you can tell if I'm a God-sent
preacher by hearing whether or not I preach God's Word. Paul
said to Timothy, Timothy, preach the Word. Be like the noble Bereans
who search the Scriptures daily whether these things be so. You
can tell if God has called me to be a preacher by if I preach
His Word. Now, a true prophet is called
by God. A true prophet hears God's Word. And here's the third
mark. A true prophet preaches all the Word of God and holds
nothing back. Now let me repeat that. A true
prophet preaches all the word of God and he holds nothing back. Look back in 1 Samuel chapter
3, verse 15. This is after God has spoken
to Samuel about what he's going to do to Eli's sons. Verse 15, And Samuel lay into
the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And
Samuel feared to show Eli the vision, the word that came from
God. Then Eli called Samuel, and said,
Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. And
he said, What is the thing that the Lord has said unto thee?
I pray thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more,
if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said
unto thee. And Samuel told him every wit. and hid nothing from
him. That's what a true prophet does.
He tells every wit and he hides nothing. Now, it's a dead giveaway. It's a dead giveaway when a man
holds something back. Paul said, I've not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. Every bit of it. He said, I kept
back nothing that was profitable to you. And if a man refuses
or fails to teach some part of the word of God, he exposes himself
as a false prophet every time. I don't want to hear somebody's
going to hold something back, do you? I want to know all the words
of God. I want to know what he has to say. And if somebody holds
back, they're not telling me the truth. Now, who's the arch
false prophet in the scriptures? Balaam. He's mentioned three
times. He's mentioned by Peter, he's
mentioned by Jude, and he's mentioned by the Lord himself, talking
to the church at Pergamos, having those there that hold the doctrine
of Balaam. Now, I would like to challenge
everybody in here this week to read Numbers, chapters 22 through
24, and that's all the information we have about Balaam, and find
one thing he said that you disagree with. Everything the man says
is true. Not what you couldn't listen
to one thing. He said, see, there he's wrong. It's not what he
said that exposed him. It's what he didn't say. It's
what he left out. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you tithe mint and eyes and cumin, but you've omitted, you've left
out the weightier matters of the law. It may be that a false
prophet, everything he says is true, but he leaves out that
which is vital. A false prophet holds back. He fails to confess. Turn to
1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Hold your finger
there and say we're going to be coming back there. Verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit. But try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesseth There has to be a public confession
in his preaching. Every spirit that confesses,
not just the spirits that agree, well, that's the truth, but no,
there's a confession. There's a public statement regarding
it. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God. He confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh. Now, when he makes that confession,
he says he was before he came. He confesses the Godhead. of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
always been. He was before he came. He confesses he came in
the flesh and he did what he came to do. All divine truth
is in that little simple statement. Christ Jesus has come in the
flesh. He was before he came, he came
and he did what he came to do. Verse three. And every spirit
that confesseth not I'm not talking about what they say they believe,
I'm talking about what they publicly preach. What a man publicly preaches,
that's what he believes. Nothing more, nothing less. You
can just write that down. If he doesn't publicly preach
it. I've heard, I've asked people, you know, they're going to certain
churches. I said, well, does your, does your pastor believe in election?
So I don't know. I've never heard him say anything about it. Well,
I can tell you he doesn't then. What a man publicly preaches,
that's what he believes. Every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is the spirit of antichrist. This failure to confess, not
just Positive error, but just leaving out and not confessing
what he should be saying. Oh, we need the spirit of the
Lord to give us some discernment. I want to be able to discern,
don't you? I want to know whether what I'm hearing is of God or
whether it's of men. Now, he says every spirit that
confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not
of God. It's the spirit of anti-Christ. Now, If there is not a confession,
if he holds something back, for whatever reason, he is a false
prophet. Here is the next point regarding
the true prophet. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse 3. And Samuel spake unto all the
house of Israel, 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse 3. And Samuel spake
unto all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return unto
the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods
and Ashotroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto
the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of
the hand of the Philistines." Now, may I say this the way it
ought to be said? A true prophet is intolerant
of false gods and false gospels. The true prophet is. Now, what
do I mean by that? You know, in our day, probably
what is looked upon as one of the greatest virtues is the spirit
of toleration. We've got to tolerate everything.
Be tolerant. Don't be judgmental. Don't judge
what somebody is saying. Be tolerant. I'm okay. You're
okay. We're all okay. Be tolerant. Now, there's a very
real season which we ought to be tolerant and we ought to compromise. I'm not talking about the truth
of God, but as far as this thing of toleration. I want to be a tolerant person.
I want to be a gracious person. I want to be a merciful person.
I want to be a moderate person. I don't want to hold people's
feet to the fire and keep them under the letter of the law.
I want to see myself as the chief of sinners and esteem everybody
else as better than myself. That's the way I ought to be.
Let each esteem the other as better than themselves. I'm not
trying to put myself in some kind of place where I'm everybody's
judge. So understand me. I'm not talking about a harsh
attitude. I want to be merciful. Look at it myself. It's talked
about the high priest, that he had to be compassionate toward
others, seeing he himself was compassed with infirmity. As
sinful as I am, I can't look down my nose at anybody. I really,
I don't have the right to look down my nose at anybody. So when
we're talking about this attitude of no tolerance, it's talking
about tolerating a false God or false gospel, there can be
no tolerance there. Now, I want to be tolerant of
everybody in every area, but right there, if somebody preaches,
what did Paul say? If any man preaches any other
gospel unto you than that which I preached unto you, let him
be, what? Accursed, damned upon the return
of the Lord. He said, if you didn't hear me
the first time, let me say it a second time. If any man preach
any other gospel than that which I've preached to you, let him
be damned. Now, was Paul being unloving?
No, he's on the Lord's side. I love Psalm 139, where David's
talking about all the Lord's done for him, and all of a sudden
he just blurts out, Surely thou wilt slay the wicked. Depart
from me, ye bloody men. Do not I hate them that hate
thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them my enemies.
Now this is our attitude about a false god and a false gospel. And if a man can tolerate a false
god and a false gospel, he proves by that he's not a true prophet. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 12,
verse 7. This is Samuel speaking. He says,
Now, therefore, stand still that I may reason with you before
the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did
to you and to your fathers. Now, that word reason, I don't
know why they translated that. The word reason means literally
pronounced sentence. A true prophet pronounces Now
what do I mean by that? I'm preaching gospel. I'm preaching
Christ is all in salvation. I'm preaching justification by
His grace. I'm talking about His justifying
work. If you believe, you'll be saved. If you don't believe,
you'll be damned. Now, that's how serious this
thing is. Paul said we're a saver of death
unto death and life unto life. What about when the Lord says,
whosoever sins you retain, they're retained. And whosoever sins
you remit, they're remitted. Now, that doesn't mean that some
man has, I can't say, boy, if you cross me, I'm going to make
sure your sins are retained. No, that's not what that means.
What that's a reference to is preaching the gospel. Whoever
believes this message, their sins are remitted. And whoever
rejects this message, their sins are retained. It's a message
of judgment. Now, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. And woe unto you if I preach
the gospel and you don't believe it. His message is a message
of judgment. And a true prophet, listen to
this, a true prophet is a prophet in his closet. Well, you're there
in 1 Samuel chapter 12. Look in verse 19. Getting ready to visit the Groovers,
and I think of one time, Austin, he was about eight or nine years
old, and he said he wanted to be a preacher. He said this to
me. I was listening. He said, I want
to be a preacher. I said, oh. I said, Austin, why do you want to be
a preacher? He said, well, they only have to work on Sundays and Wednesdays. And I
understand that. What do you do? You're a preacher.
I mean, I know you get up and preach. What do you do all day?
Look in verse 19, 1 Samuel chapter 12. And the people said unto
Samuel, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we
die not. For we've added unto all our
sins this evil to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people,
Fear not, ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside
from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your
heart. And turn ye not aside, for that ye should go after vain
things, which cannot profit nor deliver for their vain. For the
Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because
it please the Lord to make you his people. Moreover, as for
me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing
to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. Now, I know this. A true prophet
is preeminently a man of prayer. He's a prophet in his closet.
And if he's not a prophet in his closet, he's no true prophet. His heart, I think of what Peter
said. When they were having trouble
with some kind of financial things, this is when they established
the deacons. He said, you establish these six deacons to take care
of this business so we can give ourselves to prayer and to the
ministry of the word. A true prophet gives himself
to prayer, praying for God's blessing, praying for understanding,
praying for the people, loving the people he preaches to, to
where he calls their name out before the Lord. I'm looking. There's not one person in this
room that I don't pray for every day and call your name out. before the throne of grace. Now,
a true prophet is a man of prayer. That's one thing to say, that's
another thing to do. I realize that, but here's the point I'm
making. A true prophet gives himself to this, to prayer. I like what Martin Luther said,
he that has prayed well has studied well. And a man that's not a
man of prayer, he has no business being a prophet. That's just
all there is to it. He gives himself completely to
that. The true prophet understands
the gospel. That's simple enough, isn't it?
Did you notice what Samuel said in verse 23 of 1 Samuel chapter
12? Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the
good and the right way. What is the good and the right
way? Christ said, I am. the way. He's the good way. He's the right
way. And a true preacher preaches
the Lord Jesus Christ, the way to the Father. And he preaches
Christ every time he preaches. And if he ever preaches a message
that is not the gospel, he doesn't have any business being a preacher.
Every time I preach, I better preach the gospel. Every single
time. I better preach Christ Jesus
and Him crucified. Now, I might not use the same
words, I might have a different text, but it's still the same
message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified, teaching the way to
the Father. What's the way to the Father?
Christ Himself. And this is the message of a
true prophet. He knows the good and the right
way. You know, Samuel demonstrated
how clearly he understood this when Saul took it upon himself
to offer a sacrifice to God. He went a different way, didn't
he? He came into God's presence some other way than the good
and the right way. He bypassed the Lord Jesus Christ. He thought
he could offer a sacrifice himself. And Samuel said to him, God rejected
you because of that. He understood Christ as the good
and right way at all times. The only way I can come into
God's presence is through the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way
I can be accepted is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
my salvation. He is the gospel. A true prophet
preaches the good and the right way. And a true prophet, I've
got two more things I want to say. A true prophet understands
the issues. He understands the times. He
understands the issues. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, remembering, we considered this last week in 1 Samuel 15,
where God told Saul to go out and kill all the Amalekites.
And what did Saul do? He left them. He spared the main
one. He spared the flesh. And Samuel
confronted him about it, and Samuel took care of the business.
He went ahead and cut Agag into pieces, but he understood he
was leaving room for the flesh. A true prophet understands the
issues. If God has called me to preach,
I'm going to have some understanding of the issues. And somebody that
doesn't, God never called him to preach. And here's my last
point. A true prophet is not a hireling. Look in 1 Samuel 12. Verse 1, And Samuel said unto
all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice, and all that
you said unto me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold,
the king walketh before you, talking about Saul, and I am
old and gray-headed. And behold, my sons are with
you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this
day. Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the
Lord and before His Anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose
ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? With
whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hands have I received
any bribe to blind my eyes therewith? And I'll restore it to you."
And they said, "...thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed
us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand." A true prophet
is not a hireling. Paul said when he was summarizing
the ministry in Acts chapter 20. The last thing he said is
I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. This is not
a job. This is a calling. If it's a
job, if it's how I make my living, if it's how I earn, if it's how
I take care of my family, I'm a false prophet. A true prophet
is not a hireling. He's called of God. And you know
a false prophet, he's always money controls. Money controls. He holds back part to the truth
because he thinks it would hurt him financially. What he does,
he does to serve himself. But a true prophet is not a hireling. That's what a true prophet is.
Samuel is the example of a true prophet. Now let's close by looking
at a passage of scripture in Matthew chapter 9. The true prophet is called of
God. The true prophet hears what God
says and brings that message. The true prophet preaches all
the word of God and holds back nothing. The true prophet will
be intolerant of false gods and false gospels. The true prophet
pronounces judgment. He preaches for a verdict. And he says those who believe
this message, it's not his message, it's God's message, they'll be
saved. Those who don't will be judged. A true prophet is a prophet
in his closet. It's not just trying to be a
big shot before men, but he's a prophet in his closet. A true
prophet understands the gospel, the good. and the right way. A true prophet understands the
issues, and a true prophet is not a hireling. Matthew 9, beginning
in verse 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion
on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as
sheep, having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples,
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord
of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his
harvest. Let's pray.