Take Heed that No Man Deceive You

Q: What does the Bible say about being deceived?

The Bible warns against deception, stating that many will be misled, including those who claim to have no sin. In Matthew 24:24, our Lord emphasizes the danger of deception, warning that false Christs and prophets will arise and lead many astray. This includes the possibility of deceiving even the elect, which highlights the importance of discernment in our spiritual lives. The danger of self-deception is also noted; one can mislead oneself into believing falsehoods, particularly regarding sin and spiritual condition. The admonition to heed these warnings is crucial for maintaining truth in our understanding of God and the gospel.

Q: Why is understanding our motives important for Christians?

Understanding the motives behind our actions is crucial as they determine the true quality of our worship and service to God. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6 that our motives are foundational to our actions. If we perform good deeds or engage in worship for the recognition of men, our Heavenly Father will not reward us. This principle suggests that the quality of our worship is tied more to our heart's orientation than the acts themselves. Thus, it's imperative for Christians to reflect on whether their actions stem from a desire to glorify God or from ulterior motives, as the latter ultimately lead to emptiness and lack of divine approval.

Q: How do we know election is true?

Election is affirmed by Scripture, indicating that God chose a people for Himself before the foundation of the world. The doctrine of election is grounded in several key biblical passages. Ephesians 1:4-5 states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, predestining us for adoption as His children according to His will. This reflects God's sovereign grace in salvation, asserting that it is not based on human merit or exercise of will, but solely on His purpose and grace. Furthermore, the assurance that Christ's death is sufficient for His chosen ones illustrates that election is an essential aspect of God’s redemptive plan, clearly established in His Word.

Q: Why is the glory of God important in our actions?

The glory of God must be the primary motive behind all that we do, guiding our actions towards His honor and praise. 1 Corinthians 10:31 commands believers to do everything for the glory of God, which serves as the foundation of a Christian’s actions. This priority aligns all efforts and ministries, ensuring that worship, service, and daily living are pleasing to God. A true understanding of this glorification leads to motivation for preaching and living that exceeds personal ambition or gain. Consequently, our actions become genuine reflections of our love for God and our commitment to honor Him through everything we do.

Q: What does the Bible say about preaching the Gospel?

The Bible emphasizes the necessity of preaching the Gospel as the means by which God saves His elect. The command to preach the Gospel is not merely a suggestion but is vital for the conversion of God's elect. Romans 10:14 states that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ, which underscores the power of proclamation in salvation. It is through the preaching of the Word that God's chosen people are drawn to Him, receive faith, and experience salvation. This affirms the church's duty to communicate biblical truth clearly and faithfully, ensuring that the message remains centered on Christ and His redemptive work.

There's a word that our Lord
uses four times, the word deceive. Yesterday morning
I looked hard at this word, the word deceive. I don't want to
be deceived. I don't want to deceive myself.
I do not want to deceive others. The word means to mislead. The
word means this, it means to make a person believe that which
is not true. That's to deceive, to mislead
or to cause a person, cause myself to believe what is not true.
Any man say he hath no sin, he deceives himself. You can deceive
yourself. We always say, well, we don't
want preachers to deceive us. Well, don't deceive yourself
either. You can deceive yourself. If a man say he hath no sin,
he deceives himself. Well, I don't want to deceive
myself. I don't want to be deceived. And I don't want to deceive anyone
else, sincerely and honestly. Our Lord says here in verse 4,
take heed that no man deceive you, not even yourself, your
pastor, your mother, your father, no one. Be careful. He says down
here in verse 11, they shall deceive many. This is a sad thing. This is what breaks your heart.
There's so many that are deceived. False Christs and false prophets
rise, and they shall. They shall deceive many. Many
shall be deceived. Misled. Led to believe something
that just is not true. Just is not true. And then here's
a staggering verse, verse 24, and I looked at this a long time,
and I hope you will even later. He says in verse 24, where there
shall arise false Christs, false prophets, they shall show great
signs, unusual wonders, and they shall, in so much, these signs
and wonders shall be so great that they shall deceive, if it
were possible, even God's chosen, even the elect, even those who
are bought with the blood of Christ, if it were possible,
They lead them astray. Paul, writing in Ephesians, says
they lie in wait to deceive. Now, never lose sight of this
one fact. Now, this is so important. What
I'm about to say, if you're going to have to miss anything at all
in this message, don't miss this right here. This is the purpose
of the whole message. It's summed up right here. There's
one great and important fact. In things pertaining to God,
in things pertaining to God. Now, I'm not talking about your
job. I'm not talking about your vocation. It may not be true
in your vocation or your profession or your job or your life, but
in things pertaining to God, this is true. Why we do a certain
thing is just as important as what we do. Now, let's never
forget that. in things pertaining to God,
why you do it, is just as important as what you do. Now let me show
you that. Turn to Matthew 6 first. Why you do it, the motive, that
which is back of it all, that which produces it, that which
motivates it. Why? It's just as important That's
what you do. Matthew 6, verse 1, our Lord
says, take heed that you do not your arms, your good deeds, before
men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. If this is the motive, if you're
doing it to be seen of men, see the motive determines the reward. The motive determines the recognition
of the Heavenly Father, the blessings of the Heavenly Father. It doesn't
matter, someone says, if a person lives morally, righteously, godly,
does good works, he'll go to heaven. That's not so. Why he
does it is as important as what he does. Look at verse 5, and
when you pray, when you pray, don't be as the hypocrites. They
love to pray standing in the synagogues, in the corners, that
in order that they may be seen of men. in order that they may
fulfill an obligation, fulfill a duty, fulfill a responsibility. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Turn to John, chapter 2. Now,
I want you to look at these scriptures now. In John, the second chapter,
why we do what we do is as important as what we do. In John, chapter
2, listen to this. Even what we call faith, can
go unaccepted of God, unrecognized by God. All faith is not faith.
All faith is not saving faith. In John 2, verse 23, now when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles that he did. They believed. Why did they believe? Because
they saw some miracles. Not because they really trusted
him. Not because they really, as Art prayed a while ago, needed
him. Not because they were persuaded
that he had the righteousness of God and the power of God and
the wisdom and authority of God. They saw the miracle. Now watch
it. But Jesus did not commit himself to them. He knew all
men and needed not that any should testify of man. He knew what
was in man. I've come this morning, I say,
to worship. God knows whether I came to worship.
I give my gift this morning to be used for God's glory with
a grateful heart, with a thankful heart. That's what I say. God
knows whether I did or not. I bowed my head in prayer and
I called on God, the people thought. I gave them that impression.
That was the motions through which we were going. Those were
the words which we were saying. Was my heart with God? God knows.
Was my concern for his glory and presence and blessings really?
God knows. Why I do it is just as important
as what I do. Turn if you will to John 6, listen
to this. In John 6, verse 25, I started
to say, I strained, Paul, I almost wrote this down, I started to
say, why I do it is more important than what I do, and I keep wanting
to say that. And it wouldn't be surprising if that wasn't
the way it ought to be put, but I'm just staying away from unnecessary
controversy. Why I do it is just as important,
and I want to say more important, than what I do. Our Lord said
in John 6, verse 25, and when they had found him on the other
side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when cameest thou
hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Seek me. You see, it was obvious they
were seeking him. They came all the way around
the lake, around the sea. It was obvious they were seeking
him. Why were they seeking him? Well, to them it didn't matter.
They were just seeking him. And to most preachers it doesn't
matter. But to Christ it matters. Why were they seeking him? Read
on. You seek me not because you saw the miracles, that's not
the reason, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled.
You're greedy. I fed you and you were filled
and satisfied, that's why you're hunting me, that's why you're
seeking me." And he went on, he said, "...labor
not for that meat which perisheth." But for that meat which endureth
unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you,
whom hath the Father sealed." What's your motive? We'd better
spend some time before God, this preacher, I'm not preaching down
to you, we'd better spend some time before God examining our
motives and our hearts even more than our doctrine and
our conduct. Now, doctrine's important and
conduct's important, no question about that. But we'd better spend
some time examining our motives and our hearts. Proverbs 4, verse 23, just jot
this down, don't look it up, let me quote just a short verse.
Proverbs 4, verse 23, keep thine heart out of it of the issues
of life. Look right across the page at
Matthew 23. We're reading 24 there, but look
across the page, verse 28. Our Lord said, You appear righteous
unto men. And most of us do. We attend church. We're here
embodied. What is our real motive? What
is that? Can we say with Paul, the love
of Christ constraineth me? Our Lord said this, where two
or three are met together in my name, I'll be with them. I
wonder if the fact that we don't have the power of his presence
as often as we would like, perhaps we're not meeting in his name.
That's not our motive. When we preach, when we witness,
when we read and study, What if we can ask ourselves, am I
motivated by a love for Christ? Am I motivated by a desire for
the glory of God? I think we ought to search our
hearts and examine our hearts with this question. While I'm preaching to you this
morning, while I'm examining my motive for preaching, would
you examine your motive for hearing and for supporting the preaching
of the gospel? I believe there's a threefold correct scriptural
motive for all things. I'm going to give it to you.
A threefold scriptural motive. The first is this, for all that
we do. I think even when we grow angry, with someone. Can we ask this?
Am I angry for the glory of God? Is this why I'm upset? Am I seeking
the glory of God? There's such a thing. When our
Lord went into the temple and drove out the money changers,
that was for the glory of God. We can't justify our anger. We grow angry with someone and
we say, well, the Lord grew angry. Hold on now. His was motivated
by the glory of God. His mind. I stay away from the house of
God, the Lord's day, people are worshiping. Am I staying away
for the glory of God? If I am, stay away. I'm going
to preach or witness to someone or teach or sing, is this for
the glory of God? Do I have other motives? Turn
to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. This is our first motive in all
things. I was listening to a preacher
preach this morning before I came to church. His subject was Malachi
3, verse 10, I believe it was. Wherewith shall a man rob God? You rob me in tithes and offerings,
something like that. But he was preaching on tithing,
and he kept emphasizing that if a person would give 10% of
his income in tithes, God would bless him. And he kept warning
the people that if they didn't, then God would take away from
them, God wouldn't bless them. Now, to me this motive is all
wrong, totally wrong. This type of motive for doing
anything, for giving or worshipping or witnessing or preaching, unless
it can be for the glory of God, I believe it's sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, verse
31, "...whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye
do, do all to the glory of God." Our first consideration in ministering
the Word, in worship, in witnessing, in giving, in all things, is
the glory of God. Our Lord said that no flesh should
glory in his presence. He that glory, let him glory
in the Lord. Our primary concern, now this
may shock you, I hope it doesn't. Our primary concern this morning
in preaching the gospel is not to win souls. That's not my primary concern.
My primary concern this morning is not to warn the wicked. My primary concern this morning
is not to change or reform the world. If I am preaching for the right
motive, if we're here worshiping for the right motive, that first
motivating force is the glory of God. That's so. Whatever you do, in word or deed,
he didn't say do it to win souls, do it to warn the world, do it
to warn the wicked, do it for the glory of God. Now, let me
tell you this, I believe this, this is where the pulpit watered
down its message when they lost sight of this right here. This is when the pulpit started
compromising, when we got another reason for preaching than the
glory of God. When we became concerned about what men think. That's
when we began to take the edge off that message. We began to
cut her down. We became concerned about the
world and what the world thought, and
we cut that message down. The glory of God, that's why
we put it the glory of God. It doesn't matter what the world
thinks. This is when the Church, I believe this, this is when
the Church went into the entertainment business, when they became numbers
conscious instead of God conscious. I really believe that. That's
when we began to put boards up on the wall to tell how many
we have here, how many. My friends, honestly, from my
heart, I say If we have Him here, what else
does it matter? If God is here, if Christ is
here. And if He's not here, if we have
ten million, we're wasting our time. The Church became conscious
of numbers. And when you become numbers conscious,
you've got to do whatever you do to get the numbers. You can't
offend people. And this is when the world came
in and the Spirit of God went out. If I come to this pulpit
this morning, and you come to your Sunday school classes, or
to this worship service, and we're not concerned. It's not
our motive to fill the building. It's not our motive to impress
anyone. It's not our motive to get folks
coming. Our motive and our concern is this. Our only concern, O
God, get glory to thy name. O God, reveal to us thy worth.
O God, enable the pastor to preach. If it's offensive, if it's troubling,
if it's disconcerting, if it's convicting, if it's comforting,
whatever it is, let him preach thy word for the glory of God,
for the glory of God. Now, religious people will be
offended. Turn to Matthew 15. Now, turn
over here. Matthew 15. Your brother might be visiting
you, or your sister, and you bring them to church Sunday morning.
They're real religious. They're members of the first
something-or-other church down at, you know, in Miami, or Fort
Lauderdale, or Carl Gables, an area up visiting. You say, I
want you to meet our preacher. I want you to come down. We got
the finest church, finest group of people. You bring them, they
sit down, and the pastor gets up that morning, and he preaches
on election. And you sit there and squirm,
oh, I know my brother, I know this is shaking him up. That
awful, what a sermon. Preacher, why couldn't you preach
on the love of God this morning? You know my brother don't believe
in election. I should have told you he was coming. Next time
he comes, I'll tell the pastor he's coming so he won't preach
on anything. Or maybe the preacher preaches
on total depravity and inability and the original sin, and you
squirm. or the preacher preaches on particular
redemption. That's the only point my brother
don't believe. Oh, why did he pick that sermon
this morning? Why didn't he preach something
else? And you go home, it's quiet in the car, you know, and you're
upset and he is too. Well, read Matthew 15. Let's see, why are we here? Matthew
15, verse 10. And he called a multitude and
said, Hear and understand, verse 11, It is not that which goeth
into the mouth that defileth a man, but that which cometh
out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples
and said, Lord, don't you know the Pharisees, the religious
people, were offended? After they heard what you said,
and he answered and said, Now you listen to me. Every plant
which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
Your brother and my brother, your sister and my sister, your
mother and my mother, your daddy and my daddy, God's going to
root them up. He didn't plant them. Now get that through your
head. That's what Christ said. You
left them alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll all fall in
the ditch. Why are we here? Are we here to compromise his
word, to please the Pharisees? Our Lord said, leave them alone.
Leave them alone. They are blind leaders of the
blind. Now, get ready. If you preach and witness and
pray and worship and meet for the glory of God, the Pharisees
are going to be offended. They are going to be offended. Some of them will turn back.
John chapter 6, turn over there a minute. Some of them will turn
back. They won't come back. They won't
hear the message again. They won't visit anymore. Now
you, there's a man you work with, you're interested in him. You
bring him to church Sunday morning. Now what, you want me to fix
a message up so that he'll stay around? So he'll like what he
hears? Or do you want God to be glorified? And he comes and hears the message,
and you go back to work next morning and say, well, did you
enjoy the service? I'll never go back there again.
Now, what's your attitude? How are you going to feel about
it? Well, Brother Mann didn't have to. He didn't have to do
it. He didn't have to preach like that. There's plenty more in
the Bible. He could have preached on the
second coming. He could have preached on love. He didn't have
to preach on the wrath of God. He didn't have to do that, didn't
he? But I see what Christ said in John 6, verse 65. And he said,
Therefore I said unto you, No man can come to me, except it
were given him of my Father. And from that time many of his
disciples went back and walked no more with him. And he said
to the twelve, our Lord even turned to the twelve and said,
Now will you go away too? It depends on your motive. I say this is when the Church
cut its message, took the edge off. This is when the Church
began to compromise. This is when we whittled it down.
This is when we began to try to make religion attractive.
We began to try to make God attractive. We began to try to make the gospel
attractive. We began to try to suit the gospel
to every man's needs. It can't be done. They're going to be offended,
they're going to turn back. Some of them are going to get violent. Turn
to John 16. Some of them get violent. They'll
get violent, get mean. They'll get mean. Let me tell
you something. Just because a man's in a church
doesn't mean he's not mean. They can get mean. Our Lord said
they will. He said in verse 2, John 16,
they'll put you out of the synagogue. They'll put you out of their
fellowship. And the time will come when they
kill you, they'll think they're doing God a favor. And they'll
do these things because they've not known the Father nor me.
But they can find them a preacher who will preach what they want
to hear. They always can do that. They can do that. Turn to 2 Timothy
4. Now, they won't begin to search
the scriptures to see if these things are so. They come out
and hear the message, and it's offensive, and it makes them
angry, and it makes them violent, and it makes them quit. But instead
of searching the scriptures to see if these things are so, they
don't do that. They'll go find them a preacher
who will preach what they want to hear. 2 Timothy 4, look at
it. Verse 2, he tells Timothy to
preach the Word. Verse 3, For the time will come,
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lust, their own desires, they will heap to themselves preachers
having itching ears, and shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and be turned to fables." They will find somebody who preaches
what they want to hear. The congregation has ears that
itch, that want to hear what they want to hear, and the preacher
has an itching ear that wants to hear the compliments of the
people. He loves the praise of men more than the praise of God. All right, what's our first motive?
Whatever the cost, it's got to be for the glory of God, what
we do for the glory of God, what we preach, what we teach, even
though it may be offensive. And Paul said the cross is offensive. To the natural man, it's foolishness.
To them who are saying it's the wisdom of God and the power of
God, let me ask you this, you come and hear the word, and I
preach man's lost, what happened in the garden, man's lost condition.
You understand that? Yes, Preacher, I see it. To me
it's so clear, and that God chose a people because if he hadn't,
nobody would have come. He would have been without a
people. And according to his wisdom, he chose a people and
gave his Son to die for them. And Christ's death satisfies
the justice of God and the righteousness of God and the holiness of God. And in time, he sent his Spirit
and called us and awakened us and brought us to trust Christ
and believe him. And if a man does believe Christ,
he is a bond-slave of Christ. He is committed to Christ. Christ
is his Lord and King and reigns over him. If Christ doesn't reign
over him, he doesn't belong to Christ. And if he's not a new
creature, he's not in Christ. And if he doesn't live for God's
glory, he doesn't know Christ. Preach it, preacher! I believe
it! But don't preach it when my brother's here. Can't do that. If it's so when
you're here, it's so when he's here. If God used it to save
you, he'll have to use it to save him. Otherwise, he'll perish. Now, don't take your son to the
doctor with a broken arm and it's all turned crooked and you
say, the doctor, don't hurt him. What do you mean, don't hurt
him? Well, just don't hurt him. Well, I can't set that arm without
hurting him, then we won't set it. That's foolish. That's utterly foolish. Do whatever
has to be done to glorify God. That's our first motive. I'll
write the second motive. The second motive for preaching,
turn to 2 Timothy 2, the conversion of God's elect. Paul, in verse
9 of 2 Timothy 2, he said, I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even
under bonds. You can put me in jail, he said,
but you can't put the Word of God in jail. Verse 10, I endure
all things, the suffering, the agony, the scourgings, the trials,
I endure them for the elect's sake. God has an elect people. Our Lord says over and over again,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. All that are
taught of God shall come to me. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. My sheep hear my voice. My
Father gave them me. He is greater than all. No man
can pluck them out of my hand. God has a people. Jew and Gentile,
black and white, rich and poor, old and young, out of every tribe,
kindred, nation, tongue, and people under heaven. He has a
people. I endure these things for the elect's sake. I preach
for the elect's sake. I go to take the gospel for the
elect's sake. God has a people. And look at
the next line. I do it for their sake that they
may obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. Their salvation
is in Christ. It's not in the church, it's
in Christ. It's not in the law, it's in Christ. It's not in themselves,
it's in Christ. It's not in me, it's in Christ.
Everything they have is in Christ. I'd go to tell them about it.
Turn to Ephesians 1. Keep that right there just a
moment and go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. And let's look at,
if you will, at verse 3. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Now listen,
their salvation is in Christ. Paul said, I endure all things
for the likesake that they may obtain their salvation which
is in Christ. Look at Ephesians 1, verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ, according as he chose us in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should behold him without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in Christ. In Christ we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. It's all in Christ. Paul
said there's salvation in Christ, and I go that they may obtain
it. How do they obtain it? Through
the preaching of the word. God had chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Turn to 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said in
verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received, and wherein
you stand, and by which you say, I preached it to you. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Our Lord said, Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. We preach that men might be saved. We don't come together as a church,
and a man stands up here with a Bible open, to have an undisturbed,
uninterrupted social fellowship. We come to glorify God. We come
to preach his word, worship him, pray, guilt, send missionaries,
witness, teach, to glorify God. And secondly, because we believe
that God has an elect people, which he gave to Christ, for
whom Christ died, whom the Holy Spirit will call and bring to
faith, and that will take place under the preaching of the gospel,
under the preaching of God's word. Because, he said, of his
own will begat he us through the word of truth. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. I believe this, that the Bible
teaches, that as I read God's word and preach God's word, the
truth of it, Paul said, I kept back nothing profitable unto
you. I have not shunned the clarity of the whole counsel of God.
And if we preach the truth, the Holy Spirit takes that word,
and by that word and through that word, shows men their sins,
their inability, their need of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ,
the grace and mercy of God, the purpose of God, how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. And through that preaching, those
people come to receive that truth and receive that Christ and receive
that person, and by that preaching, they're saved. But it's the preaching
of truth that saves me and not the preaching of error. It's not just preaching that saves.
Christ said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free. Error will not set men free.
They may say they're free, they may claim freedom, but error
does not give freedom. Truth gives men freedom. The
truth about myself, I've got to know it in order to have the
freedom of faith. The truth about God's purpose.
Now, if I go around saying God does not have an elect people,
there's no such thing as election, well, someday I'm going to find
it out that it is so. And I have been in bondage to
error all this time. Now, I want to know the truth
about God's purpose in salvation. Whether I'm in it or not, I want
to know the truth. I don't want to be deceived. I may not be in the kingdom of
God, I may not be in the family of God, I may not be in the election
of grace, but I don't want to claim I am. If I'm not, I want
to know the truth. Don't you? I want to know the truth about Christ's
death. Did Christ suffer on that cross for all mankind? And I
go through life believing that and find out in the judgment
he didn't. He died an effectual, sufficient death for his people.
I've been in bondage to error. I haven't been free. I talk about
the freedom of my will and the free moral agency of man, and
saying it so doesn't make it so. The man who knows he's a prisoner is free in Christ. That's right. Truth made him free. He knows
the truth. Now watch this. I present five
things for you to consider. Now don't you think of these
things. Think carefully about it. It's the preaching of truth
that sets men free. It's the preaching of truth.
Now watch this. Is man utterly ruined or partially
disabled? What's the truth? What is the
truth? Is man utterly ruined or partially disabled? Do we
look to God for an operation of grace because we're totally
ruined, utterly ruined? Second, is salvation a gift or
an offer? You think about that. I want
you to think about these five things. You do well to give a
lifetime to the study of these five things. You want freedom?
You study these five. Is man utterly ruined or is he
partially disabled? Now, you answer that. You deal
with that. Don't answer it right now. Think about it. Is salvation
a gift or an offer? Thirdly, now watch this. Does
regeneration produce repentance and faith? Or does repentance and faith
produce regeneration? You think about that a little
while. Does regeneration as a power of God, the life-giving power
of God's Spirit, is that what produces repentance and faith?
Or does the life-giving power of God sit over here and wait
on me to produce it, and when I produce it, it comes in? Let
me ask you this, is the atonement effectual, sufficient, or is
it conditional? Is what Christ did on that cross,
is it effectual, is it sufficient, is it complete, is it finished,
or is it conditional? Fourthly, is salvation eternal,
or may I finally fall away? You'd do well to give a whole
lifetime to those five things right there. Most preachers don't
know the answer to them. And they're keeping their people
in bondage and error. But preacher, that'll cause trouble.
You're mighty right it will. I promise it. I promise it. But I'll tell you this, when
a man comes to understand what God's saying there, he'll set
him free. And oh, the freedom, the freedom. of Christ. The one over there that said,
is he cursed Christ and died cursing Christ and claiming the
unjust treatment, or the one over there who said, I'm getting
what I deserve, I'm a prisoner, I'm dying under the wrath of
sin, I ought to die, this is what I deserve, Lord, remember
me. Set free. Thirdly, here's our motive, and
I quit. The glory of God, the conversion
of his elect, Thirdly, our growth in grace. Our growth in grace. Now turn to 1 Peter 2. We studied
this in Sunday school this morning. Our class worked on this a little
while. It's so important. In 1 Peter
2, verse 2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow. Now we're redeemed. We have received
Christ. Christ is our Lord. We're saved.
We're healed. We are sufficient to enter. I
have all that I need. He's made unto me all I need.
But brethren, we're born into the family of God as babies.
Infants. We're babes in Christ. Just like
your children are born into your home as babes, as infants. We
desire to grow. We want to grow. We long to grow. We're coveted to grow. Now, the
means of growth. What are the means of growth?
The means of growth, the Word of God. prayer, worship, fellowship,
exhortation, preaching. These are means of growth. Just
like your children grow, you bring them around the table,
you feed them the right things, you give them the right food.
They can't grow on poison. They can't grow on grass. They
can't grow on hay. They've got to have rich, nourishing
food, the truth. And this is what you get when
you don't get this from entertainment. And I know that a lot of churches
feel like that for the young people and other people, you've
got to have all kinds of suppers and ball teams and socials and
entertainment and all of these things. And this brings people
together. It brings bodies together, that's true. But the only way
that any of us, this preacher, you, these children, are going
to grow is on this good nourishing food. Teaching the word, preaching
the word, reading the word. And this, I want to grow in grace.
I want to grow, I don't, I'd like to see this place packed. I'd like to see us have to knock
these walls out and preach to more people. Why? Why? So we could say we had the biggest
crowd in town. No. God help us, and he won't, for
the glory of God. for the conversion of his elect,
and for our growth in grace. I want to grow. I want to be
more like Christ, don't you? I want to love more. I want to
forgive quicker. I want to show mercy. I want
to be kind and patient. I want others to see Christ in
me. I want to grow. I want to be able to go through
the deepest, darkest valley, praising the Lord. I want to
be able to go through the greatest trial, giving him the credit
and the glory. I want to be able to see his
hand in all things and his providence. I want us to grow, grow in grace. And when a man is saved, he has
all things. But I'm interested more than
in a ticket to heaven. I'm interested in knowing a person
and the power of his resurrected life. And that comes through
the Word. That's the only way. Our Father,
we're grateful for the Word. Let us be emerged in this Book. into the person and body of Christ.
Let us be motivated for thy glory and thy praise in all things.
O Lord, lead us to those who belong to thee, that we may preach
to them. We'll preach to all men. We're
to discharge our responsibility to every creature. Give us a
vision for the whole lost world. O God, motivate us by the love
of Christ and the glory of Christ to preach to every creature and
call out thine own. Now bless this word, use it for
whatever purpose it may please thee. Make us to be faithful,
faithful to Christ. And in being faithful to him,
we'll be faithful to one another. In his name we pray, amen.

Take Heed that No Man Deceive You

What does the Bible say about being deceived?

Why is understanding our motives important for Christians?

How do we know election is true?

Why is the glory of God important in our actions?

What does the Bible say about preaching the Gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Take Heed that No Man Deceive You

What does the Bible say about being deceived?

Why is understanding our motives important for Christians?

How do we know election is true?

Why is the glory of God important in our actions?

What does the Bible say about preaching the Gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book