This is a sobering statement, and
it's frightening. Now watch verse 7, 2 John, many
deceivers, many deceivers have gone out into the world. He didn't
say there are a handful, one here and one there. This is frightening. There are many of them, many
of them. They've gone out into the world,
and they're known by other names. Let's look at the scripture and
see. Turn to Matthew 7. and many of them. Our Lord in
Matthew 7 calls them false prophets. He says in Matthew 7, verse 15,
Beware of false prophets. Now, they don't go by that name.
They don't call themselves false prophets. They come to you in
sheep's clothing. They come to you as true prophets. They come to you as ministers
of Christ. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
They're covetous, greedy wolves, devouring all whom they can.
Beware, my Lord says, false prophets. You shall know them by their
fruits. What do you suppose that is? What's the fruits of a man's
ministry? It's his converts. That's the fruits of a man's
ministry, the results of his ministry. People who follow him. They came to him one day and
said, What's this you're preaching? He said, Don't ask me, ask them
that heard me. They'll tell you what I'm preaching. They know
what I'm preaching. Turn to 2 Peter, 2 Peter 2. They're known as false prophets,
and there are many of them, many of them. And here in 2 Peter
2, they're called false prophets again. He says in verse 1, there
were false prophets among the people, that is, in Israel, even
as there should be false teachers among you. And they are privately,
in a sneaky manner, they creep in. They don't come knock on
the door and say, we want to take the opposite side. In this debate, we want to take
the opposite. No, sir, they sneak in. They
are creepers, they creep in. They bring these doctrines in,
these damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them. Look at verse 3. And verse 2 says, many shall
follow their pernicious ways. Many people are going to follow
them. They are not without followers. Somebody said, can two million
people be wrong? Three million were over there in the wilderness.
There were more than that wrong in Noah's day. There were more
than that wrong when they crucified Christ. Our Lord stood alone. He walked the winepress of God's
wrath alone. Even his disciples were wrong.
They turned away from it. Verse 3, and through covetousness. This is what motivates false
preachers and false prophets, covetousness. They covet you,
they covet what you have, they covet fame and prosperity, they
covet recognition, they covet me. Shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you? Here's another name for them.
They're merchandisers of men, hucksters. My brethren, they
deal in numbers. Statistics, that's what they
deal in. You listen to them. Our records speak. They'll tell
you how many folks they had this Sunday, how many last Sunday,
how many they're going to shoot for next Sunday, how much money
they took in. They'll tell you all these different, how many
places they preach, how many souls they won to Jesus Christ.
They deal in numbers, not in personalities and individuals.
They deal in numbers. They make merchandise. You're
just so much cloth, like a clothing salesman. You're just so much
merchandise out on a used car lot. That's what you are to them.
We're moving 200 units this month. We've won 200 souls this month.
The used car salesman or the new car salesman, we're moving
150 units this month. He didn't say we sold a man a
nice 1979 Oldsmobile. with leather interior and a white
vinyl top. And he's so happy with his new
car. And we made him happy, and we're serving him. And he's riding
in it, and he's making good money in his business. No, we sold
150 units. You're a unit, that's what you
are. You're merchandise. They make merchandise out of
you, not interested in the individual. A missionary called me this past
week on the telephone. And he said one of the leading,
now listen to me, you won't believe this, that anything like this
could happen. But my friend, if you just knew,
one of the leading Baptist preachers in this country with a huge church
and a huge following and a school for preachers was visiting this
missionary and they were talking. And the missionary told me, he
said, I told him what I believed and what I stood for. I told
him I believed God was sovereign. He reigned, he came, sovereign
and all that. I told him I believe man fell
in the garden, he's dead and trespasses in sin. I told him
I believe God in his sovereign mercy, according to his divine
wisdom, elect to the people. That's what scripture says. I
told him I believe that and I preached that. I told him, I believe Christ's
death was effectual, that he died to redeem a people, that
he shall redeem them, the Holy Spirit will call them and they
will persevere, they will walk with Christ, they will continue
in the faith. He said, I took him for a half hour and he just
sat there and listened to me. Didn't bat an eye, didn't blink
an eye, he listened to me for 30 minutes as I told him what
I believed. When I got through, he walked
over and stuck out his hand and he said, I believe that. I believe that. And he said,
I looked at him and I said, well, why don't you preach it? Why
don't you teach it in your school? Why don't you preach it in your
church? And this is his reply. If I did, if I preached that,
I'd be out on my ear tomorrow. Can you believe that? That's a fact. That man is covetous. He doesn't have the soul. Paul
said, I've kept back nothing profitable unto you. Listen,
my friend, and the men of this church know this is true, if
I know something is taught in God's word and will split this
church, we're going to split tonight. I may not wait until
tonight, I may call you at 3 o'clock this afternoon and tell you,
God, show me something, and we're going to split if it's in God's
word. Now, do people determine what
we preach, or does God try to determine what we preach? Somebody
said a few weeks ago, Brother Mahan is one of the best preachers
in the tri-state. That's their comment. But he
shouldn't preach election to his people. We shouldn't preach
those things to our people. You mean I'm supposed to keep
back something from you that God has in his Word? Am I supposed
to keep back something from you that's profitable to you, that's
glorifying? I refuse! I refuse! I'm not a huckster, I'm not making
merchandise of men. We're not trying to see how many
bodies we can get in this building. We're trying to see how many
souls God will save and take into the kingdom of heaven. And
he won't save men apart from the truth. The truth will set
you free. Hucksters. Hucksters. That's what he calls them. Here's
another name for them, seducers. Seducers. They seduce people.
Seduce them. Turn to 2 Corinthians 11, verse
3. What's this? This is seduction.
This is the way Satan seduced Eve. Subtlety. Subtlety. In verse 3 of 2 Corinthians
11, I fear, I fear, Paul says, I'm afraid, I'm jealous over
you, and I fear lest by any means there's a serpent beguile Eve.
He seduced her through his subtlety. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Oh, my dear friends,
also in 2 Corinthians 11, look at this, verse 13. They are called
not only false apostles, verse 13 said, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, verse
14, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore,
it's no great thing if, what are they called here? Satan's
ministers. They are his ministers. They
are not God's ministers. They are Satan's ministers. Let's
go back to our text. In verse 7, he said, many deceivers,
many false prophets, hucksters, merchandisers of men, seducers,
Satan's ministers, many of them have gone out into this world. And here's their chief error.
Now, they have many errors. They have many errors. They have
many errors. They teach people to keep days. They forbid people to marry. abstain from meats. The scripture
calls that doctrine of devils. Do you know what it calls it,
Jay? That's exactly what the scripture calls it. They have many errors. They tell people, observe a certain
day or observe a certain holiday or
season of the year, take a certain week and do without your coke
or your cough or your cigarettes or something. God will bless
you. It's not so. They tell you abstain from meats.
They tell you to forbid to marry. And all these other things that
tell you how long to wear your hair, your sleeves, they give
you a uniform. They've got many errors. They're
full of errors. Self-righteousness, ways for
you to find acceptance with God. But their chief error, their
chief error, here's where the whole thing starts. Look at verse
7. They're deceivers who have gone unto her who confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. That's their chief
error. John says this, this is a deceiver
and an antichrist. This is their chief error. Their
chief error is in regard to the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's their chief error. They
might have many errors like a dog has many fleas. or ticks hanging
on them. But that's not where their poison
is. That's not where their rotten
timber is. Their poison and rotten timber
is on this foundation. They do not believe that Jesus
of Nazareth is God Almighty in human flesh. They do not preach
the incarnation of Christ Jesus. He's a good man, I tell you that. He's a good healer and preacher
and prophet and all these things. A great reformer, like I read
in the paper yesterday, this poor poor liberal fool who has
written a book, Was Jesus Married? But this is what he said yesterday
in the paper. Now listen to this, see if you catch this subtlety.
He said in the paper, If Jesus Christ were in the world today,
he would be for equal rights for women. Now, what blinds us,
we see that equal rights for women, and we're divided on that
now, we get to debating over that. But the error in that whole
thing is, if Jesus Christ were in the world today, where is
he? Of course he's in this world, he's everywhere. Christ is here
today, in his word, in his message, in his gospel, in his people.
But this is where the man revealed his error. His error is not with
the equal rights situation. His error is not with the prophecy.
His error is if Jesus Christ were alive. That's what he's
saying. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. I can tell
by that one statement, Jay, that the man doesn't believe Jesus
Christ is God. I can tell by that one statement.
He wouldn't say if God was in the world today, would he? He
knows God is in the world. He said, Jesus Christ. So Jesus
Christ to him, maybe to you. Was a fellow that came into this
world and did a work and passed on, like you do. But brethren,
let me tell you something. He was in the world and the world
knew him not. The world was made by him. All
things were made by him. In him we live and move and have
our being. This is their chief error. Let's just go back a few
pages to 1 John 2. And let me show you this in several
places. The chief error of the deceiver, the antichrist, the
false prophet, the huckster, the seducer, is what he believes
about Jesus Christ. Verse 22, 1 John 2. See, 1 John
2, 22, who is a liar? Who is the liar? I'll tell you
who the liar is. It's he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ. That's the liar. And not only
that, he is an Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whoso denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. Isn't that
strong? Now, what you think of Jesus
Christ might be more important, because he that denieth the Son
denieth the Father. Let me show you another one,
1 John 4, verse 1. Go to that 1 John 4, verse 1. He says, verse
1, I don't care how genteel it is,
I don't care how kind and loving. There's a fellow on television
that, brother, I tell you, my grandmother wasn't sweet as he
is. Oh, my, my. I don't see how any
man watches him. I put a question mark on whether
he is a man or not. He's got those long, flowing
robes. I don't call his name, but he
lives in a glass house. That's a sissyist. nauseating,
and I don't care how genteel and how loving and how kind they
come to you, and how sissified they are, he says, don't you
believe them. Now listen to me, you try the
spirits, whether they are of God, because there are many false
prophets gone out into this world, and here's how we know the Spirit
of God, here's how we know the Spirit of God, it's not the fellow
that stands for morality. Although God's servant will.
Don't misunderstand me. It's not the fellow that stands
for love one another. God's servant will. They'll love
one another. The answer to all our ills is
not love, it's Christ. And he produces love, and he
begets love, and he brings love, but he's the answer, not love.
But he says, here's how you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit
that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh! What's so unusual about that?
I believe he came in the flesh. Who came in the flesh? God came
in the flesh. God Almighty one day walked this
earth in human flesh, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
That's how you know whether a man is of God, if he preaches who
Jesus Christ is. And listen to verse 3. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And it's the spirit of antichrist,
whatever they're promoting, whatever good cause. You've heard it should come.
It's even now in this world. So it's not the law. That's not
really the issue. That's not the error of the false
prophet. And we can debate and say, well, he's wrong on the
law. Well, he's wrong on the Sabbath, he's wrong on the ordinances,
he's wrong on church government, he's wrong on different things.
But that's not the issue. This is where they're wrong,
on the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Christ
himself was the issue, is the issue, and always will be the
issue. Our Lord, one day some people came to him, lawyers and
Sadducees and Pharisees, and they began asking him questions.
One of them said, Is it lawful to pay taxes? Should a Christian
pay taxes? I know that's an issue today,
too, whether income taxes is legal and all that. You fight
that out. You go ahead. And that's what
they want to do. Lawful for us to pay taxes to
Caesar. And our Lord said, give me a
penny. They gave him a penny. He said,
whose picture is on there? They said, that's Caesar. He said,
you render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things
of God. One of them said, well, he said, now the Sadducees didn't
believe in a resurrection, and they said, here's a woman that
was married to a man. He died, and she married another,
and he died, and married another, and he died. In the resurrection,
when they're raised, who's going to be her husband? And our Lord
said, You do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power
of God. You don't know anything about God. In their resurrection,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage. And another fellow
said, Well, Lord, there are a lot of laws. Now, which is the greatest
law? Which is the most important law?
Which is the sin I dare not commit? Our Lord said, The law is summed
up in two. I shall love God with all your
heart and your neighbor as yourself. And that pretty well put him
to silence, didn't it, Jay? And I expect some of them started
home. He said, What? Hold it. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Now you bring
your religious gatherings together and your council on Baptist theology
and all the rest of it and decide whether or not I ought to shoot
basketball on Sunday. And when you do, send me a note.
and decide whether or not my wife ought to wear sleeves three-quarter,
half, or all the way down to her wrist. Let me know. Please,
we need to know that, you know. We're greatly disturbed over
those issues. Whether I ought to eat pork or not, be sure and
let me know. But this is what I want you to know. You'd better
decide something about Jesus Christ before you wind up in
hell. That's the issue right there. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whom
do you? Whom do you? say that I am."
Well, Lord, out there they're saying you're a prophet and a
healer and a great preacher and a reformer and maybe larger.
Well, do you say I am? And Peter said, I know who you
are. You're the Son of God. Old Thomas fell at his feet and
said, My Lord and my God. And our Lord didn't correct him
either, did he? My Lord and my God. And he said this, If you
believe not that I am he, I am he. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall die in your sin." Look at our text again, 2 John.
2 John. And John says to this elect lady,
this dear lady whom he loved, he says, You look to yourself
now. You look to yourselves, you and your children. Don't
you lose these things. Don't you let somebody talk you
out of them. Don't you listen to these false prophets. Don't
you follow them. Don't lose these things which
we have brought, which we have gain, don't lose them. We want to receive a full reward. What's a full reward? To be made
into his likeness? To stand one day in his presence?
To be like Christ? To be fully glorified? We don't
want to pray church for 20 years and then perish. We want a full
reward, Jay, a full reward, a full life of preservation and a full
life of perseverance. We want to say with the Apostle
Paul, when we come to the end of our day, The time of my departure
is at hand, I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I've kept
the faith, I'm going to a crown of righteousness. And that's
not a material crown that I'm going to wear and show off to
everybody that doesn't have one. The crown of righteousness is
the crown of his righteousness, the glory of his presence, the
reward of his fellowship. Christ is my reward, that's all
I want, all I need. And that's all I'm going to get,
because that's everything. Let's have a full reward. Now,
watch verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth. Now,
brethren, that's not talking about the law, because you already
broke that this morning. That's right. In word, deed,
and thought, every day you transgress the law. Don't tell me you don't.
I know better than that, and you do, too. We're all transgressors
of the law. We're talking about something
else. He said, Whosoever transgresseth, preacher, whoever he is, teacher,
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. And brother, that's
the supreme transgression. That's the sin unto death. That's the unpardonable sin,
to transgress and abide not, abide not in the doctrine of
Christ. He says this man hath not God.
He's got no part in God. He does not know God. He's not
sent of God. He does not preach the God of
the Bible. If he abides not continually, constantly in the doctrine of
Christ, what is the doctrine of Christ? Let me give you five
things. First of all, it's his person
and incarnation, the doctrine of Christ. Whosoever abides not
in this doctrine of Christ. Now listen to me, I don't want
to be harsh and cruel, I want to be kind and loving and affectionate,
but I want to be truthful. And I want to say what the Apostle
says, whosoever does not abide in this doctrine of Christ My
friend, there's no question he died on the cross. There's no
question he lived on the earth. There's no question he was born
in Bethlehem. But who is he? That's the question. Who is he? And that's where men part company.
The angel said to Joseph, Mary's expecting a child. And Joseph
said, well, I'm going to put her away privately. I'm not going
to make a spectacle out of her. And the angel said, you don't
need to be afraid, Joseph. That's God's Son she's carrying.
That holy thing is the Son of God, supernaturally conceived. God has come to earth. And thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And this is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7.14, which says, Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a child, and thou
shalt call his name Immanuel, which is God with us, God with
us. He said in John 10, verse 33,
I and my Father, one. I and my Father. So the first
part of the doctrine of Christ is his deity. He's God. This baby in Bethlehem's manger
is none other than God in human flesh. Almighty God. All that that means. He's the
God-man. God and man in one person. Two natures in one person. Two
natures in one person. The very one who's in the manger
made the world. The one who's hanging on that
cross made the tree from which they built the cross. He put
the ore in the ground from which they made the nails. He grew
the thorn bush from which they made the thorn crown. That's
right. He took upon himself flesh and
blood. In Hebrews, the Father said to the Son, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. I don't have to prove to you
Jesus Christ is God, it has to be revealed to you by the Holy
Spirit that he is God. This was the issue. This is why
they wanted to stone him. He said, you are a man, you make
yourself God. But the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. Secondly, the doctrine of Christ
involves his offices. Turn to John 1, this is the book
of John, the general epistle of John. John 1, verse 21. Now watch this, John 1, verse
21. These men asked John the Baptist,
have you ever noticed this? John 1, verse 21, they asked
him, Are you Elias? And he said, No. They said, Are
you that prophet? Are you that prophet? And he
said, No. What are we talking about, that
prophet? What is a prophet? Well, a prophet is sent of God.
to reveal God to the people, God who at sundry times in divers
manners spake to our fathers by the prophets. A prophet is
sent to reveal God's will and God's word and God's person and
God's character and God's glory. That's a prophet. When Moses
said back yonder in Deuteronomy, don't turn to it now, I'll quote
it to you, 18, 15 through 18, he said, God shall raise up from
among you, from among your brethren, that him you shall hear." Moses
wasn't talking about himself or Elijah or Isaiah. That prophet,
the prophet, and that's Christ. And they were looking for that
prophet. That's the reason they asked John the Baptist, went
out there in the wilderness, they said, Are you that prophet? He
said, No, I'm not that prophet. I'll tell you who he is. Christ
is that prophet. They said, Show us the Father.
He said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. He that
heard me hath heard the Father. He that loves me loves the Father.
He's that prophet. Not only that, but he's the Christ.
Turn back to John's epistle, the general epistle of John,
chapter 4. This woman at the well, I'm going
to speak from this tonight, but she was sitting there, and here's
a Samaritan woman. Here's kind of a half-breed Jew
here, a Samaritan woman. And she's talking to the Lord
Jesus Christ here, and after it's all over, she said in verse
25, John 4, I know that Messiah is coming, which is called Christ. When he comes, he'll tell us
everything. Brother, for 4,000 years these
Jews were looking for the Christ, the Redeemer, the Messiah. That's
right, the consolation of Israel. Simeon was looking for him. You
know who Jesus Christ is? He's that Christ. You see his
office, he's prophet, that prophet, the fulfiller of every promise,
prophecy, picture and type, that prophet. He is that Christ, that
Messiah, that Redeemer, that seed of woman that God promised
Abraham and David and Noah and Enoch and Abel and Adam. He's
that prophet and that Christ. And let me tell you something
else. I've got to hurry. He's that high priest, that high priest
of whichever one of them are types. Now, let me tell you something. Throughout the Old Testament,
the high priest represented men to God. Turn to Hebrews. Let
me show you something. You've got to see this. Hebrews
5, verse 1. Hebrews 5, verse 1. Now, listen
to this. Hebrews 5, verse 1. Every high
priest. It doesn't say every priest.
High Priest. This is Charlie the High Priest.
And let me tell you, even Paul respected the High Priest office.
He was on trial one time, the Apostle Paul was on trial with
these Jews and Pharisees and all that bunch, and a fellow
over here said, slap him! And somebody reached over and
slapped Paul, and he turned to that fellow and he said, God will
slap you, you whited gravestone. And a fellow said to him, Do
you talk to God's high priest that way? And Paul apologized.
He said, What? I didn't know he was the high
priest. I wouldn't have said that. Remember what he said?
Uh-uh. The high priest was chosen. Look
at verse 1, chapter 5. Every high priest is taken from
among men, ordained for men in things pertaining to God. That
high priest in Old Testament days was somebody, I'm telling
you. He was the only one that was
allowed in the Holy of Holies. He was the only one allowed to
make an atonement. He was the only one that could come before
God for the sins of the people. That's what Christ is. You see,
turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Oh boy, Hebrews
10 verse 21. What are you doing calling on
God, brother of mine, when I got me a high priest? I tell you,
verse 19, Hebrews 10, says, you come on, brethren, boldly, enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, verse 21, and having
a high priest over the house of God, that's drawn here. Brethren,
that high priest is Christ. That's his office work, and that's
the reason everybody, now let me tell you something, the Pope
is an Antichrist. No question about it. He claims to be the
high priest. He claims to be the vicar of
Christ. He claims to be the man on this earth that you come to
to get your sins forgiven. That's error. That's antichrist.
Christ is the high priest. We have a high priest. Every
man who denies the priestly office of Christ, his high priestly
office, his mediatorial work, his advocacy, his prophetic office,
his Messiah office, is an antichrist. And so, I didn't say that, God
said that. And he's a king. Turn to John
18. John chapter 18. In the 18th chapter of John,
now you go on pussyfooting and playing tiddlywinks with this
thing if you want to, but I'm going to show you something even
stronger in a minute. John says, "...he that abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ," which includes his person, his office, prophet,
priest, king. John 18, listen, verse 33, Pilate
entered into the judgment hall and called Jesus and said, Are
you the King? Are you the King? Are you? But let me tell you something,
this was the character in which he was accused. You want to know
why they nailed him on the cross? His kingly office. They accused
him, they said, this man makes himself a king. What character,
in what character did the soldiers mock him? Come on, what character? King. That's right, they put
a crayon of thorns on his head, they put a robe, a scarlet robe
on his back, they put a scepter in his hand, and they bowed the
knee and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Huh? In what character
was he crucified? What office? King. They wrote
over his head, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews. That's right. And that's the
character in which you will bow to him, too. I'm telling you
the truth. Now, I know all these preachers
are going to give you Jesus Christ as your Savior, but I'm telling
you this, the issue is, who's your Lord? That's the issue,
boy. Who's your Lord? And that's the
character in which the thief on the cross believed on him.
You're coming into a kingdom! Remember me. I shall confess with thy mouth,
Jesus, to be Lord." And this is one preacher sounding a different
note. I know there are a lot of folks
telling you, if you want to go to heaven, you believe on Jesus
Christ as your Savior and walk down the aisle and shake somebody's
hand, get baptized, get your name on the roll and go your
way. But that's not what God's word teaches. That's not what
it teaches. It teaches that thou shalt confess
without Jesus to be Lord, and bow and submit and receive him. And if your mama means any more
to you than Christ does, you can't be his disciple. If your
little baby means more to you than Christ Jesus, that's what
he said, you can't be my disciple. There's but one king in this
kingdom. Just one king, one monarch, one dictator, one complete, absolute
sovereign. And all of his subjects are bond
slaves. Delightful, loving, willing bond
slaves. It's a happy, joyful relationship,
but he's the king. And he says, if you put your
hand to the crown and look back, you're not fit for the kingdom
of God. You lay down the banner, you'll never pick it up again.
I warn you. It's impossible to renew them to repentance. He
says there are dogs who have gone back to their vomit and
sows who have gone back to their water. I won't have them, he
said. I won't have them. You call this thing, I know,
well, we all want an easy road to heaven. It is easy. He is
the road. My burden is easy. My yoke is
easy. My burden is light. But it's
a Lordship burden. He's the king. That's the reason
he tells me in what we dare not tell him today. He says, sit
down and count the cost. Don't you let a preacher, young
people, if you let a preacher push you into decisions, into
church membership, into some kind of vow before God, you better
sit down and weigh and count the cost. Is this the route you
want to go? There's no discharging this war.
There's no turning back. He's king. He's king. All right, watch this, his redemptive
work. Turn to Hebrews 1, verse 3. Hebrews
1, verse 3. We're unprofitable servants,
I know that, but we're still servants. We're unprofitable
bond slaves, we fail and fumble and falter, but we're bond slaves.
We're subjects of the King, he's our sovereign. Hebrews 1, verse
3, listen to this, "...who, being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person, upholdeth all things
by the word of his power, when he had," listen, when he had,
"...by himself purged our sins." Now, let me talk to you a minute.
Let me talk to you. The redemptive work of Christ
is a work which Cecil, he did by himself. Now, he doesn't need
my help or your help. How do you purge our sins, Jay? By himself. Read that two ways. It was by himself, that is, he
gave himself, by his sacrifice and his death and his suffering
and his righteousness and his blood, by himself he did it,
by the payment of himself, by the suffering of himself. There's
another way to read that, he did it by himself too. He walked
the winepress of God's wrath by himself. No blood of noble
martyrs entered that stream either. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein. You say what you want to, but
I believe with all my heart that Christ redeemed me without the
aid of anyone, in anything, in any contribution made by human
hands or human work. By himself did what? I wish I
could say as strong as I want to, purged our sins. Purged them,
cleansed them, put them away, blotted them out. They are no
more. Purged our sins. And watch this
next line, he sat down at the right hand of God. Now let me
tell you something, you and me. When do you sit down out there
at your factory? I'm talking about being on an
assembly line. You know when you sit down? When you've finished your
job. And you've got no right to sit down until you do. And
our Lord finished. He said, It's finished! It's
finished! And they heard him in heaven,
earth, and hell. And brother, he went home and
sat down. No priest of God ever sat down
before God. He never did. There wasn't a
chair in the tabernacle or around it anywhere, because their work
was never through. But when he finished his work,
the Lord said unto him, My Lord, sit on my right hand, till I
make your aim as your footstool. Sit down. You've done all I sent
you to do. It's finished. Now, these seducers
and hucksters and merchandisers come to you with a half a gospel,
half a bridge across a river. God's done all he can do. Christ's
done all he can do, and that's up to you. Now, he wouldn't have
sat down if that's so. But it's not. He by himself purged
my sins and sat down. And God comes to me with a full
pardon, with a full pardon. I'll tell you something else,
the doctrine of Christ. Go back to 2 John. I've got to quit.
2 John. This doctrine of Christ includes
his intercession. He's the only mediator, the only
mediator. between God and men. Now, brethren,
in his return, that's the doctrine of Christ. Look at verse 10.
If there come any unto you in your home or in your church,
now I warn these preachers who are studying here, who have gone
out to pastor, don't you have a man in your pulpit because
he's a friend of one of your deacons? Don't you have a man
preaching your pulpit that you know does not preach the gospel
of Christ? Don't invite him into your home.
He says, if any come to you and bring not this doctrine of Christ,
don't you receive him into your house? I'm not talking about
your relatives that don't believe the gospel. We're talking about
preachers here. We're talking about deceivers,
hooksters, seducers, false prophets. We're talking about preachers
who don't preach the gospel of Christ. That's who we're talking
about. Now, stay on the context. Stay
on the subject. We're talking about preachers.
We're talking about men who claim to be apostles of Christ who
are not, who claim to be preachers of the gospel who are not. Men
like this fellow says, yes, I believe that, I know it's in the Bible,
but I won't preach it because I'd lose my job if I did. Don't
you have him in your home. Don't have him in your pulpit.
Don't you do it. And watch the next line. And
don't you bid him Godspeed. That is, don't you wish him well.
Don't you say God bless you to him. Don't you do it. Don't you wish him well, don't
you encourage him in his error. The thing for you and I to do
is this, look him in the eye and say, you're wrong, you're
wrong. You're denying the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're being a shame, you're an enemy of the cross,
and I hope God deals with you in mercy or judgment. But don't
you encourage him, and don't you give him a dime. I'm telling
you. He said, look at verse 11, he
that bideth him Godspeed, that is, he that encourages that man,
he that contributes to him, he that affords him a ride, a little
help, he's a partaker of his evil deeds. He's sharing in his
rebellion and in his rotten doctrine. That's right. That's serious.
I'm not telling you to become a critic of everybody, an examiner
of everybody, if they don't agree with you on which day is the
Sabbath. No sir, I'm talking about the doctrine of Christ.
That's what I'm talking about now. Let's stay on the subject.
He that hath not the doctrine of Christ, and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ. Who is he? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? Who is this man called Jesus Christ? In his prophetic office,
in his messiahship, in his lordship, in his kingship, in his sovereignty,
who is he? He's our effectual Redeemer who
by himself purged our sins, who's coming back again. And the man
that does not abide in that doctrine, don't you receive him into your
house. Don't you receive him into your
pulpit. I was accused one time of over here to Pollard Baptist
Church because I'd only have one or two or three or four preachers
in the pulpit. But I'm telling you, if a man
walks in here and I know that he does not abide in the doctrines
of Christ, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I guard this
pulpit, guard it with my very life and my blood. I had a friend,
pastor of the church in North Carolina. And a friend of mine
was visiting the church that Sunday, and the preacher brought
a good message. And the preacher was at the back
door shaking hands, and my friend walked out and shook hands with
him. And he said, Well, I'll see you next Sunday. And the
pastor said, Listen to me now. The pastor said, I won't be here
next Sunday. And he said, If I was you, I
wouldn't come. My friend said, Why not? That's
a true story. Why not? Well, the fellow is taking my
place next Sunday. He doesn't believe like we do. Sir? He's going to preach in your
pulpit? I don't understand that. Somebody
walked over to pick up a piece of literature on the table, and
the pastor said, you won't like this. He said, there's not a
whole lot of truth in that. What's he doing laying there?
Let me tell you something, brethren. This is serious. Isn't it, Cecil?
This is serious business. Any man that abides, you support
the ministry. You go on and bid Godspeed. to an enemy of the cross of Jesus
Christ, and God's going to deal with you, I'm as sure of it as
I'm standing. If you do it consciously, willingly,
now some of you may unwillingly do it, but what I'm telling you,
you deliberately, you better try the Spirit, not by me, by
this doctrine of Christ. Who is he? Ask your preacher
that sometime. Find out. And don't let him snow
you now. Make him talk in plain language. Make him tell you right out,
he can do it, he can do it. And then ask him, why don't you
preach it? And hear him say to you, I'm afraid of the people. I'm afraid. I tell you this,
I'm afraid of God. Oh, I fear the Lord. I fear the
Lord. But I want to exalt Christ, because
I know he's my Redeemer and my Lord and King. And I'll tell
you, some day, every knee's going to bow and every tongue's going
to exalt him. And I'm waiting for that day. Our Father, bless
the Word. How grateful and how thankful. We praise Thee, because You've
been pleased to reveal to us Your Word. and Christ in his
glory. The doctrine of Christ, the only
reason we know it and love it and preach it is because you
reveal it to us. We can take no credit. We're
nothing. We're nothing. We know it. Let
all men know it. Christ is all and in all. Lord,
give us courage, boldness to stand before me and exalt and
magnify him who is our Lord of Lords and King of Kings. We thank
you for this church. We thank you for these men.