Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, we're going to go ahead and get started.
Good to see everybody this evening.
Let's go ahead and get situated.
And we'll pull out our hymnals for our first song this evening.
Song number 379.
On 379, bringing in the sheaves.
On 379.
On the place.
379.
First, sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy,
Waiting for the harvest and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze,
Flying by the harvest and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Going forth with weeping, sowing for the master,
Though the law sustained our spirit up to grieves,
When our weeping's over, he will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
Amen.
Go ahead and flip in your hymnals to song number two.
Go to song number two.
Glory to his name.
Song number two.
Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the flood of light,
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the flood of light,
Glory to his name.
I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within,
There at the cross where he took me in,
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the flood of light,
Glory to his name.
O precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in,
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean,
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the flood of light,
Glory to his name.
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet,
Plunge in today and be made complete,
Glory to his name.
There to my heart was the flood of light,
Glory to his name.
All right, great singing this evening.
We're going to go ahead and go over the announcements.
Go ahead and pull out your bulletins.
If you didn't receive one this morning,
you can go ahead and raise your hand
and Brother James will bring them around to you.
We do have our service times listed at the top left.
Sunday morning, 10 30 a.m.
Sunday evening, 5 30 p.m.
And that midweek Bible study is on Thursday at 7.
We have our church-wide soul-winning times
and also our stats listed.
So here in your bulletins, we do have 92 salvations.
We could add 28 to that.
That puts us to 120.
Plus another seven to report from today.
So we're at 127.
So we got a lot more soul-winning events
to look forward to.
And we are shooting for that thousand,
that thousand salvation mark for this year.
And man, I feel good about it.
We just keep increasing each year.
So that's what we're shooting for.
Good job soul-winning.
Keep Sister Corrine in your prayers.
She's expecting in June.
So just be in prayer for the developing little one and her
that everyone is healthy and everything gets delivered.
Well, some upcoming guest preachers.
We have a new list today.
April 3rd, we have Brother Dylan Oz
that came down from Steadfast Baptist Church.
It's been a blessing having him.
Had a great message this morning for us.
So definitely shake his hand.
Thank him for coming down.
A blessing having all these guys.
April 17th, we have Brother Duncan Urbanic.
May 15th, Brother Ben Naim will be back with us,
Ben the Baptist.
And then July 7th will be Pastor Steven Anderson.
And that is a midweek service.
So hey, make sure to be here for all these guys.
You don't usually come on a Thursday.
Hey, come Thursday, July 7th.
Support Pastor Steven Anderson.
It'll be a really good treat and blessing
having him come preach for us.
Some upcoming events.
Like I just mentioned, another soul-winning marathon.
May 21st in Austin, Texas.
So definitely looking forward to that.
And then we have some prayer requests listed here.
Definitely keep Steadfast Baptist Church
and Pastor Shelley in your prayers.
And I forgot to mention this morning,
keep Brother Jeff Goodwin and his family
in your prayers as well.
Is everybody up there?
We have Stronghold Baptist Church listed.
We're going to keep listing new churches
and the new IFB.
That's Pastor Burzins.
So keep Pastor Burzins in your prayers
and his church.
And then also Brother Edward with his health
and his situation with his feet.
Definitely keep praying for them.
But if you do have any prayer requests
you want added to this, email that into the church
at purewordsbaptist.com
and we can help each other out.
You know, whatever prayer you might need.
But that is the announcements for the evening.
We'll go ahead and pull our hymnals back out
and we'll have Brother Brandon come lead us
in our third song.
Song number 39. Song number 39.
How beautiful heaven must be.
On the first.
We read of a place that's called heaven.
It's made for the pure and the free.
These truths in God's word he hath given.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
In heaven no drooping nor fining.
No wishing for elsewhere to be.
God's light is forever there shining.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Pure bars of life there are flowing.
And all who will drink may be free.
Rare jewels of splendor are growing.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
The angels so sweetly are singing.
Up there by the beautiful sea.
Sweet cores from their gold harps are screaming.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Great singing.
Go ahead and pull out your Bibles and turn to the book of Jude.
Chapter Jude.
Alright so you're there in Jude chapter, well just the book of Jude.
Jude, okay so in the book of Jude verse 1 the Bible reads,
Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James
to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.
Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation
ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt
afterward destroyed them that believed not.
The angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation
he have reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner
giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and speak evil of dignities.
Yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses
and durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally
as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves.
Woe unto them they have gone in the way of pain and ran greedily after the air of Balaam for reward
and perished in the gainsaying of four.
These are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear
clouds they are without water carrying about of winds trees whose fruit wither if without fruit
twice dead flut up by the roots raging waves of the sea blooming out of their own shame
wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints
to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among of all their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouths speaketh great swelling words
having minced persons in admiration because of advantage.
But beloved remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ
how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit.
But ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost
keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
And if some have compassion making a difference and others say with fear pulling them out of the fire
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy
for the only wise God our Savior the glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever. Amen.
I'll bow our heads for a quick word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father I pray that you may know of the Father doing all that you hear it
and just help us to have to do what we have to say
and to have to know that they say lies and take it seriously
and if they do better take it to God and just do exactly what they say.
Man, alright. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be back here and preach to you guys again.
It's been a great trip and thank you all for coming this evening.
And we're here in Jude chapter Jude apparently.
Alright, so welcome to Jude chapter Jude.
And the title of my sermon this evening is Characteristics of a False Prophet.
Characteristics of a False Prophet.
The context of the book of Jude, Jude's wanting to write unto them of the common salvation
but it's needful for him to contend with the faith
and he has to deal with these wicked men crept in unawares
and he then goes on and preaches about these false prophets
but let's go ahead and read some of this again starting in verse 3 it says
Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you
that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints
for there are certain men crept in unawares
who are before of old ordained to this condemnation
ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's go ahead and skip down to verse number 8.
It says likewise also these filthy dreamers
defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities
yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil
he disputed about the body of Moses
there's not bring against him a railing accusation
but said the Lord rebuke thee
but these speak evil of those things which they know not
but what they know naturally as brute beasts
in those things they corrupt themselves
woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain
and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward
and perished in the gainsaying of Korah
and tonight I want to preach about characteristics of a false prophet
and here the Bible lists for us three false prophets
that I believe each personify one different characteristic of a false prophet
now all of these false prophets that are listed
Cain, Balaam and Korah
they have multiple attributes about them
and you can look at their lives and their preaching
and point out multiple characteristics of a false prophet in each
but I believe the reason he highlights these three
is because each one highlights something very specific about a false prophet
so tonight we're going to go through all three of these men
and talk about the main characteristic that each of them typify
that each of them show with their lives
so starting off with Cain
now if we read this again it says
woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain
now that's not very specific
it doesn't tell us what that is
it's just saying he went in the way of Cain
so we're going to have to do some study to find out what it is about Cain
that typifies, that signifies a false prophet
and I believe that that is false doctrine
false doctrine
go to Genesis chapter number four
where we get the character of Cain
he's listing, you know, he's talking about these false prophets
and he says woe unto them, why?
because they've gone in the way of Cain
now what is the way of Cain?
let's look here at Genesis chapter four
start reading in verse one it says
Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare Cain
and said I have gotten a man from the Lord
so this is one of the first people that's ever existed
I mean this is the child of Adam and Eve
right at the very beginning
it says this in verse two and she again
bare his brother Abel
and Abel was a keeper of sheep
but Cain was a tiller of the ground
and in process of time it came to pass
that Cain brought the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord
and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof
and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering
so first let's go ahead and forget about Cain for a second
and let's focus on Abel
what is Abel here?
well first it says that he's a keeper of sheep
which makes him a shepherd, right?
so Abel's a good picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
because just like Abel was a shepherd
Jesus Christ said I am the good shepherd
he is the keeper of the sheep
not only that, the sacrifice, that Abel sacrifice
was a lamb
picturing the Lord Jesus Christ being sacrificed
and this is a sacrifice that God is well pleased with
this is a picture of salvation
let's keep your place there
but let's go to Isaiah chapter number 53
Isaiah chapter number 53
probably the most famous prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
is Isaiah chapter 53 and let's start reading in verse number seven
it says he was oppressed, he was afflicted
yet he opened not his mouth
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb
so he openeth not his mouth
he was taken from prison and from judgment
and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off in the land of the living
for the transgression of my people was he stricken
and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him
he hath put him to grief
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin
he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand
he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many
for he shall bear their iniquities
so when Abel sacrifices this lamb
God is pleased with it because it's obviously a picture of Jesus Christ's sacrifice
in Isaiah 53 it says that he's like a sheep that's dumb before the slaughters
and it says that his soul was made a sacrifice as an offering for sin
it pleased the Lord to bruise Jesus Christ
it pleased the Lord and it appeased his wrath when Jesus Christ was sanctified
and so Abel is on the right track here
what Abel's offering represents is the right doctrine
his offering is salvation by Jesus Christ
salvation by the sacrifice of the shed blood of the lamb
that's the good doctrine
but let's see what Paine's doctrine is
let's go to Genesis chapter number 3 really quickly
let's go back here
I'm sorry Genesis chapter number 4 back to Genesis chapter 4
it's like reading in verse 3 it says
and in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
an offering unto the Lord and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering
but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect
and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell
why did God have respect for Abel's offering and not for Cain
because Cain's offering represents false doctrine
false doctrine on salvation, damnable heresy, why?
because he's giving to the Lord the fruit of his own hands
the fruit of the labor in which his own hands produced
he had to go work out in the field to produce this fruit
and that's what he wanted to present to the Lord
whereas Abel it was just a shed blood of the lamb
it was a sacrifice of the lamb
and God does not have respect to Cain's offering
and what does this teach us?
it teaches us that God does not respect false religion
it's not like God just thinks that all religions are good
you know just saying all roads lead to heaven
no actually God does not have any respect whatsoever for a false gospel
he does not have any respect whatsoever for a false prophet
and you know the apostle Paul he said if someone comes to you preaching another gospel
you should actually let them be a curse
just let them be damned, just let them go to hell
why? because God and a righteous Christian also
should have no respect for false doctrine regarding salvation
God's people should have no respect for it whatsoever
I'll read for you Psalm 119 and 128 it says
therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right
and I hate every false way
you can't love both you can't say I love the word of God
and I love all religions
it's just multiple roads
no if you esteem highly the precepts and the words of God
you're going to hate any false way
and every false way
and so God is showing us that he does not have respect
for this work salvation
false gospel preaching
the works of your hand salvation
you know the type of preaching that preachers get up and say
hey you gotta clean up your life to be saved
you gotta start going to church to be saved
you gotta quit drinking to be saved
you gotta repent of all your sins to be saved
no that's pain's religion
that's the religion that God has no respect for whatsoever
and it's a religion I have no respect for
no one should have respect for false religion
but Jesus gave us a very clear way
to spot false prophets
and it's by the doctrine that they preach
go to Matthew chapter number 7
Matthew chapter number 7
start reading in verse number 13
this is Jesus speaking
he says, enter ye in at the straight gate
for wide is the gate and broad is the way
that leadeth to destruction
and many there be
which go in there at
so most people in this world unfortunately
are going to hell
the broad way is what leads to destruction
you go into most churches
and most churches are preaching
Cain's religion
not Abel's religion
it's the broad way that leads to destruction
because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life
and few there be that find it
beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep's clothing
but inwardly
they are ravening wolves
so what is the context of this passage?
he's warning you to beware of false prophets
so whatever we're about to read
it's in direct correlation with him
warning us to beware of false prophets
he's going to teach us how to identify
false prophets
verse 16
he says, ye shall know them
by their fruits
now he doesn't say you might know them
it's a pretty good indicator
he says no, ye shall know them
by their fruits
do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit
a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit
every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire
wherefore
by their fruits
ye shall know them
so a really important question is
what are their fruits?
he's saying this is the way that you for sure
can identify a false prophet
ye shall know them by their fruits
what are their fruits?
out soul winning over the years
especially in Vancouver, Washington
there's a heavy Russian population there
always preaching them the gospel
this is what they say
of course you have to have works because you'll know them by their fruits
and they'll say that their fruits
are good works
and that's how you can know if someone's saved
or if someone's a false prophet
they have good fruit, if they have good works
well then you must know that they're saved
that is not what the Bible teaches
and that is probably the worst
possible interpretation of this passage
you can have
saying that this is good works
think about Romans 4-5
but to him that worketh not but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly
his faith is counted for righteousness
how am I supposed to identify if someone is saved
or a false prophet by their works
when the Bible says you can have no works whatsoever
and be saved
so that would make Jesus' warning
of Matthew 7 saying beware false prophets
for ye shall know them by your fruits
that would make his warning completely pointless
why is Matthew 7 even in my Bible
if this is talking about works
it's stupid
it's a ridiculous interpretation
and you have to teach these people that Matthew 7
is not talking about works
so that they can get saved
look at verse 21
verse 21
so he just got saying
you shall know them by their fruits
he's going to elaborate what that means
he's still talking about the same thing
verse 21
pay attention to this word
saith unto me
Lord, Lord shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven
but he that doeth the will of my father
which is in heaven
so when he just got done telling us
hey beware of false prophets
you shall know them by their fruit
for, what does he bring up, not everyone that sayeth to me
he's bringing up what they say
specifically he's bringing up doctrine
and things that they believe
verse 22 it says
many will say to me in that day
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils
and in thy name have done many wonderful works
and then will I profess unto them
I never knew you
depart from me
ye that work iniquity
so I have a question for you
are these people saved or unsaved?
and Jesus is telling us
what they're saying
now what was it wrong that they were doing?
is it bad to prophesy
in Jesus' name?
is it bad to say Lord, Lord?
is it bad to cast out devils?
is it bad to do many wonderful works?
so if I'm supposed to look at Matthew chapter 7
and say okay, you'll know them by their fruits
and saying that that's works
well I would look at these people and say they must be saved then
right?
but wait a second
they'll profess unto them that he never knew them
and to depart from them
so they're not saved
why is it that they're not saved?
do I look at their works and say
well I can tell you're unsaved because of all the works you do
no, I can tell they're unsaved because they're trusting
in their works to get them to heaven
how do I know that about them?
from what they said
from what they preached
from the things that came out of their mouth
why? what is that? their fruits
that's what I know
that's what their fruits is
the fruits that he's talking about in Matthew chapter 7
is their words
the things that they are saying
that's what he's talking about
I'll read for you 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 3
it says this
so before I read you this verse
well people will say, oh okay, so you're saying that
a false prophet can never say the right thing
that's not what I'm saying
but they can say the right thing while lying
about what they believe
because listen to this verse in 2 Peter 2, 3
through covetousness shall they with feigned words
what does feigned mean?
it means fake, it's not real
they're lying with their mouth
and through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you
whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not
and their damnation slumbereth not
now 2 Peter chapter 2
is also a chapter that's about false prophets
and he's saying that the things that they say
they say it feignedly
it's fake, it's not real
so I'm not saying that a false prophet could never
give lip service to the right things
but here's the thing, you and I know
you just name the false prophet
think in your mind of a person that you think is unsaved
right now, why is it that you think that person is
unsafe, is it because of the works that you
saw them doing or is it because of the damnable
heresy that you heard them preach
is it because of the false doctrine that you heard
them preach, that's why you think they're unsafe
why, because they're known by their fruits
and their fruits are the things
that they say, let's prove
this further that fruits
can be talking about words
now go to Matthew chapter number 12
and think about it, even people
you know, you may have been soul winning with someone
that ended up later on being
exposed as a heretic
you're not thinking in your mind like wow
that was the best soul winner I've ever seen
they did everything perfectly
they preached such a crystal clear gospel
and I just can't believe that they got exposed
no, you're thinking like, this was a weird person
they said weird things
things out soul winning, the things that came
out of their mouth were bizarre
I mean, there was this one guy that ended up getting
exposed for being a oneness heretic
at Sure Foundation Baptist Church
and he literally would knock on the door and the first thing
he would do is he would literally put his foot
through the threshold of their door
he would bow and say, my feet are shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace, I'm here to preach
the gospel to you
I mean, if I was unsaved I would just be like
please get the hell away from me
like, what are you
you know what I mean, it's like
what kind of cult member is this
I wasn't thinking like, man, this guy was such a great soul winner
I was like, why are you
preaching them the gospel out of Ecclesiastes
it's the Romans road
not the Ecclesiastes road
what are you doing you weirdo
that's the type of things I'm thinking about this guy
I'm not thinking like, man, everything he said was just so right
yeah, the words
Jesus is God came out of his mouth
during his gospel presentation
yeah, with fainted words
he was able to give enough lip service to the gospel
where you couldn't just immediately
kick him out of church for being a heretic
you know, they try to be slick, they try to be sneaky
but eventually, the damnable heresy
comes out of his mouth that he believes that
Jesus Christ is God the father
and eventually, you're going to know them
by their fruits
now, fruits can mean a lot of things in the Bible
fruit can mean literal fruits
apples, oranges, bananas, right?
fruits can be talking about
the fruit of the womb, a child
fruits can be talking about the fruit of your lips
fruit can be talking about the byproduct
of anything, okay?
but you have to use the context
to determine what the fruit is talking about
in Matthew chapter 7, you can't just say
oh, you shall know them by their fruits, well that works
it's like, no, that's not how the Bible works
Matthew chapter number 12
I'll prove to you this further
that the fruits in Matthew 7 are talking about
words
look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 31
so the Jews just got done
the Sadducees just got done
blaspheming the Holy Ghost
now, you do that with your words, don't you?
you do that with the things that you say
look at verse 31, it says
wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men
but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven unto men
verse 32
and whosoever speaketh
a word against the Son of Man
it shall be forgiven him
but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost
it shall not be forgiven him
neither in this world, neither in the world
to come, then he's going to say something that's going to sound
really familiar to Matthew chapter 7
either make the tree good, and his fruit
good, or else make the
tree corrupt, and his fruit
corrupt, for the tree
is known by his fruit
now doesn't that sound almost identical
to Matthew chapter 7, when he's warning
you of false prophets, I wonder if the
Sadducees blaspheming the Holy Ghost were
false prophets, absolutely they were
and right after he just got done
explaining how these people are going to go straight to hell
he's like, hey, make the tree good, and his fruit good
or tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt
there you go, you just saw right there, they're known
by their fruits, they're known
by the things that they say
let's keep reading
and the answer is, they can't
they just got done blaspheming the Holy Ghost
and so he's rebuking them
for that wicked sin that just came out of their mouth
out of the abundance of their heart
their mouth spake
and what they spake was evidence
that they're a false prophet by the fruits
that we saw come out of their mouth
look at verse 35
they shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment, for by thy words
thou shalt be justified
and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned
so how is it that we
identify a false prophet? It's by their words
it's by the things that they say
now there can be plenty of other characteristics
there can be plenty of other red flags
but let me just help you, if you hear somebody
getting up behind the pulpit and saying
that Jesus is the father
saying, and they mean that they're
literally the same person, they're teaching
oneness, Pentecostalism
okay, that's a good flag
that's a bad tree right there
and someone's standing up and saying Jesus isn't
God, that's a bad tree
someone's telling you that salvation is by works
that's a bad tree
how do I know that? By their fruit
by the things that they said
not by watching their life, not by
watching their fake good works
that doesn't help me at all, because for all I know
they could be prophesying in Jesus' name
they could be doing many wonderful works, they could be casting out devils
for all I know, for the things that I see with my eyes
but what they preach is way more important
and it's a way easier way to tell
if someone is a false prophet
let's go to Matthew chapter 3
Matthew chapter number 3, let's prove this further
story about John the Baptist, verse 4
it says, and the same John
had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather
and girdle about his loins, and his meat
was locust and wild honey
then went out to him Jerusalem
and all Judea, and all the regions
round about Jordan, and were baptized of him
and Jordan, confessing their sins
but when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism
he said unto them, O
generation of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee
from the wrath to come
bring therefore, bring
forth, man I can't speak tonight, sorry
bring forth therefore
fruits, meat for repentance
fruits that are fitting
for repentance, and what does he say right after that?
and think not to, what?
say
within yourselves, we have Abraham
to our father, for I say unto you
that God is able of these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham, why is it
that these people are not saved, is it because of the works
that they do, no because they're saying in their heart
oh I'm God's son because I'm a Jew
because I'm the children of Abraham
and that's the fruit that's evidence
that they're not saved, not the
things that they do, don't pay attention to the things
that people do, pay way more attention
to the things that people say
and that's how you can identify a false prophet
by the way, this is why it's so
so important when you're
out soul winning, to ask people
what they think it takes to get to heaven
if you skip that, you're
missing the opportunity to learn about
them, what it is that they're trusting in
and what kind of tree that they are
if they tell you, hey, you got to be a
good person, you got to follow all the commandments
there you go, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
just spake and now you know what they're trusting in
and by the way, it's also a good question
to ask what kind of church that they go to
because that also can give you a big clue
as to the things that they believe, if they say
oh I go to third
reformed Baptist and it's like
okay, this guy might not believe that Jesus
died for everyone, you know, this
guy might be a Calvinist, say oh
I go to, you know, Catholic church
it's like okay, this person believes in work salvation
right, say hey, I go to Mormon
church and it's just like, see you later
right
that's a good question to ask
because out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh, that's how you
could tell what people truly believe, not by
looking at their works, but by listening to what
people say, people are justified
by their words
and people are damned
by their words, not their works, alright
someone's going to make a clip of that, you know
Dylan preaching false doctrine, Romans
10-9 we all know it, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved
for with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation
you know, the damned are damned
because of what they say and the
saved are saved because of what they
say, who did you call
upon, what do you think it takes
to be saved, are you trusting in
yourself or are you trusting in Jesus Christ
the things that come out of someone's mouth, that
would be a very good indicator of a false
prophet, and what are we talking about?
We're talking about characteristics of a false prophet
you can see how this skill
of being to identify what someone believes through
their words, this could also be very helpful
on a larger scale, not even just
identifying false prophets, but just identifying
what people believe, listening for red flags
this is a very important skill that you
have to realize that what comes out
of people's mouth is what came out of their heart
okay, so number two
we're going to talk about Balaam, let's go back
to Jude, chapter Jude
so we saw
woe unto them for they've gone
in the way of Cain, we figured out what that is
Cain, he signifies, he typifies
false doctrine, damnable
heresy, let's look at this
next one here, it says woe unto them
for they've gone in the way of Cain
and ran greedily after
the error of Balaam
for reward, now with Cain
it was pretty vague, it's just like hey you
ran in the way of Cain, we get a lot more
of a clue when it comes to Balaam
because it uses the word greedily
and uses the word reward
so they ran greedily after the error
of Balaam for reward
now the characteristic of a false
prophet that Balaam
personifies is covetousness
covetousness
now covetousness is a sin that anyone
can be susceptible to, don't get me wrong
but extreme covetousness
is definitely, definitely
a characteristic of a false prophet
and let's prove that, let's go ahead and go to Numbers 22
Numbers 22
and we'll get the story of
Balaam, the story of Balaam
spreads out throughout several chapters
so we won't read the whole thing but just
kind of give you an idea of who this person
is, you know, Balaam is
a sorcerer, and the way you know
he's a sorcerer is it says in Numbers 23
23, after he's not able to curse
Israel, he says, surely there is no
enchantment against Jacob, neither is there
any divination against Israel
so he's trying to enchant them, he's trying to
divine, have divination, the Bible calls
him a soothsayer, this guy
is a false prophet and he's just
practicing sorcery and just doing all sorts
of wicked stuff, but look at
Numbers chapter 22
and let's look at verse
5, so Balak
is going to try to hire Balaam here, it says
he sent messengers therefore unto Balaam
the son of Beor to Pethor
which is by the river of the land of the
children of his people, to call
him saying, behold there is a
people come out from Egypt
behold they cover the face of the earth
and they abide over against me
so Balak is calling to Balaam
and he's not giving him a whole lot of detail
he's like, hey there's this group of people
that's coming out of Egypt, he doesn't tell him who it is
he says there's this random group of people
verse 6, come now therefore
I pray thee, curse me this
people for they are too mighty
for me, for adventure I shall prevail
that we may smite them, and that I may
drive them out of the land, for I
want that he whom thou blessest is blessed
and he whom thou cursest is cursed
and the elders of Moab and the elders
of Midian departed with
the rewards of divination in their hand
and they came unto Balaam and spake
unto him the words
of Balak, so what's happening
Balak's just saying, hey
there's this group of people that I want
you to curse, and he sends his servants
and they're bringing him rewards of divination
which is money, right?
And you gotta think, he didn't even give any detail
as to what these people are, he just said that
they're people, but we know it's the children of
Israel, and Balaam
if you keep reading the story, time
after time again, he's gonna continue to
try to curse these people
no questions asked, who are these people?
Balaam doesn't care, he's getting paid
right? And this is a mark of a
false prophet, someone that's covetous, you're thinking
what kind of person
would curse someone just for money
that you don't even know? A false prophet
that's the type of person that would do something
so wicked, that would just preach
any lie, twist
the Bible as much as they can, as long
as they get the rewards of
divination, okay? And a lot
of people think that Balaam is saved, but look
in Jude, he's listing
names of false prophets, the context
he's talking about false prophets, and he's listing
these people, people like
Korah, people like Balaam, right?
People like pain, there's no
way that this guy is saved, but of course
the Lord keeps constraining
him and not allowing him
to curse God's people, and it's just
a great picture that, you know
if the Lord's for you, who can be against you,
right? It's a great picture that
greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world, right? You know the world
would love to curse God's people,
these false prophets would love to curse God's
people, but they can't do it
with the words of God, right? You can't just
read the King James Bible and curse someone
that'll never be a curse to someone, what they have to do
is they have to twist the word of God and preach
lies for what? For money.
For money.
That is what a false prophet is like.
And I'll read for you in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1
actually let's go ahead and turn there
2 Peter chapter 2
says in verse 1
but there were false prophets
also among the people
even as there shall be false teachers
among you who privily shall
bring in damnable heresies
even denying the Lord that bought them
and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. So that's point
1, that's talking about Cain, right?
The damnable heresies. Verse 2
it says and many shall follow their pernicious
or harmful ways
by reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of. So the Bible says
many people are going to fall for this, many
people are going to follow these pernicious
ways which means harmful ways
they're hurting people with their false
preaching. Verse 3 it says this
and through covetousness
shall they with fainted words
make merchandise of you
whose judgment now of a long time
lingereth not and their damnation
slumbereth not.
So what does the Bible say that a false prophet is like?
They will preach fake words
they'll say anything, they'll say
any lie just because of
covetousness. Just to make
merchandise of you. These
false prophets, they literally see their
people as dollar signs.
All that they care is how much that they can
fleece the flock, how much they
can get out of people rather than how
much they can put into people, how much they
can edify people with the word of God. Rather
they would just use fainted words
and just make up a bunch of garbage or even
try to curse people like Balaam
for a dollar. That's the type
of people that we're talking about.
Anyone that's just
a normal, good hearted person
if you've never read the Bible it's probably
pretty hard to even believe that people like this exist.
But the Bible literally says
that there's people that cannot sleep
at night until they hurt other
people. They're just tossing and
turning in their beds trying to
plan and conspire on how
to hurt people and a normal person
just can't even think like that. If the
Bible wasn't telling us that
we probably wouldn't even believe that that was a thing.
But the Bible does say that it's like that and
guess who that is? That is a false prophet.
The worst human being
on the prophet is someone that would
teach lies in the name of Jesus
Christ for money.
That would literally preach doctrine
that is going to send people to hell
for all of eternity just
to pad their wallet. There's
nothing more wicked than that.
The worst scum imaginable.
And think about it.
These preachers that are so covetous
these false prophets that are so covetous
the Bible literally says
that you're not even supposed to have company
with a brother that is covetous.
With a brother who is guilty
of the sin of being a covetous
person in 1 Corinthians chapter 5
you're supposed to put away from among yourselves
that wicked person. How
much more should the pastor not be
covetous? How much more should the
preacher not be someone that's just
given to filthy lucre like this?
Actually they should despise
covetousness. They should hate covetousness.
In the Old Testament when they're picking
rulers that was one of the requirements.
That they would be men of truth
hating covetousness.
Why? Because covetousness is going to lead you
to do anything for money.
Anything for money.
I want to read to you
some net worth figures of some
well known preachers.
T.D. Jakes according to what I
just found online says that he's worth
20 million dollars.
Kenneth Copeland
760 million dollars.
In Fort Worth Texas.
Has his own
air landing strip.
He's got a huge building
or whatever. I've actually ran into people
out soul winning that go to his ministry
or whatever you want to call that thing. It's not a church.
760 million dollars
is what he's worth.
Benny Hinn 42 million dollars.
Joel Osteen
40 million dollars.
Creflo Dollar. I mean when your
last name is Dollar you know you're a
false prophet.
27 million dollars.
Rick Warren
25 million dollars.
Billy Graham who is currently roasting
in hell. 25
million dollars.
Joyce Meyer 8 million dollars.
See even the world's like
I'd rather just give my money to a man than
who wants to go listen to Joyce Meyer?
Like what a joke.
It's disgusting.
But Joyce Meyer is a false prophet too.
Absolutely she is and she's also
characterized by not only false
doctrine but also covetousness.
And look let me be very clear
there is nothing in the
world wrong with making lots
of money through honest means.
There's nothing wrong with that.
And if theoretically which I
don't believe this is possible. Let me make it very clear.
I don't believe this is possible. But if
theoretically you could pastor
a church where you preach the
full counsel of God, your
church is out soul winning, you're King James
only, you're preaching hard against
the Sodomites, you're not holding anything
back and you are a
millionaire then technically
I don't believe there would be anything wrong with that. But the reason
why these people are millionaires
the reason why these people make so much money
is because they hold back truths
in the word of God and they don't preach
or they do preach false things
out of their own heart
lies out of their own heart to just
wrinkle the ears of people. Why?
To just make money.
To just make money. Because let me tell you
just like Balaam wanted to curse the children of Israel
when someone gets up and lies to you
and twists the word of God
that is a curse unto you.
And the Bible says that many shall follow their
pernicious ways meaning it's
harming them. It's hurting them.
Look it's hurting people to get up and say
divorce is fine.
That is literally hurting people.
That is literally hurting children
that are growing up in broken homes
messing up their lives
you know it's actually harming
people not warning against the
pedophiles and against the sodomites
and allowing children to be in your
church that are just growing up being molested
and being harmed by these predators
because the preacher won't say anything about it.
That's hurting people.
And the Bible says that these false
prophets will literally hurt people
for money.
It's the most wicked thing you can imagine.
But they're everywhere.
They're everywhere. Just like we saw that Jesus said
fraud is the way that leads to destruction.
Most churches
today the man behind
the pulpit is a wicked
false prophet. Just a
complete devil. That's
where we're at right now in our country. Most
people preaching lies
for money. It's sick.
It's a horrible thing.
I'll read for you Titus 1.7
it says this for a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God not
self-willed not soon angry
not given to wine no
striker not given
to filthy lucre.
What's filthy lucre? It's money
that's made by sinful means.
If
you're a prostitute the money that you make
by being a prostitute that's filthy lucre.
If you're an extortioner
you're robbing people stealing
money all of that's filthy lucre.
If you're standing behind
a pulpit and calling yourself a man
of God but lying to people
and taking their money when you
lie to them that's filthy
lucre. And the Bible says that the man of God
the pastor he must not
be given to filthy lucre. This is
a requirement in order to be
a qualified preacher is to not
be covetous because we see the
effects of someone that's covetous.
And here's the thing someone that's covetous
they don't just stop with money.
The Bible says that they have eyes
full of adultery that cannot
cease from sin.
They're not going to just stop with being covetous with money
no they're going to be covetous with the
church members wives
with other people. I mean you literally see
these cults where the cult leader will just have
multiple wives like Joseph Smith
right? He wasn't just covetous about
money he was also covetous in other areas
and you know these false prophets
just watch out when someone is extremely
covetous that is a bad sign
that you're dealing with a false prophet.
Go to Ezekiel chapter 34.
Ezekiel 34 verse 1
says this,
And just like in the book of Ezekiel
where God was angry
with the shepherds of Israel
that were not feeding the flock of God
but rather they're feeding themselves
God is just as angry as any
pastor, as any preacher
that's alive right now that's fleecing their flock
that's standing up and preaching lies
for money. God says woe
unto them. God despises
it. He hates it.
Makes him sick. Look at verse 3
The Bible describes this to you
they're eating the fat, they're eating the best
possible meals you could possibly eat
they're clothed with the wool
they're wearing really expensive clothes
this kind of reminds me of all of those
preachers that I listed
all these people that make tons of money
they're all characterized like this
you know having their own private jets
having mansions
all of these things that are just way
way over and above anything
that anyone else would ever need
The Bible says having food and raiment
let us be there with content
God wants us to be content with the things
that we have, not desiring just these
extravagant, luxurious lifestyles
and especially as a preacher of the
gospel that is not something that God desires
Verse 4
The diseased have ye not strengthened
These people aren't ministering
to people. Neither have ye healed
that which was sick. Neither have you bound
up that which was broken. That's what a
real shepherd would do right? A real shepherd
would see a sheep that's sick
and he would care for it
he would invest time and energy
into making sure that the sheep gets nursed back
to health. If he saw that he had an injury
he'd bound that thing up, he'd give him care
he'd pay attention and care about it
but these shepherds, they're not like that
Neither have you brought
again that which was driven away
Neither have you sought for that which was
lost. They don't care about lost souls
They don't care about preaching the gospel
but with force
and with cruelty
have you ruled them
and they were scattered because there was no shepherd
and they became meat to all the beasts
of the field when they were scattered
You know when these sheep
are driven away from the fold
and they're left to their own in the wilderness, what's gonna happen?
A wolf's gonna come and eat them up
and destroy them
and this is just a picture of what I already said
how people's lives are destroyed by false prophets
and by the lies that they teach
being scattered from the great
shepherd, being scattered from the word of God
and getting devoured by
Satan, getting devoured by this world
by the lies that they teach
Verse 6, my sheep
wandered through all the mountains
and upon every high hill, yea my flock
was scattered upon all the face of the earth
and none did search or seek
after them. Therefore
ye shepherds, hear the word
of the Lord, as I live, saith
the Lord God, surely because my flock
became a prey and my flock
became meat to every beast of the field
because there was no shepherd
neither did my shepherd search for my flock
but the shepherds fed themselves
and fed not my flock
therefore, O ye shepherds
hear the word of the Lord, thus
saith the Lord God, behold I am
against the shepherds and I
will require my flock
at their hand
and cause them to cease from beating
the flock. Neither shall the shepherds
feed themselves anymore
I will deliver my flock from their mouth
they may not be meat
for them. Some day
God is going to require
the flock of these false prophets
and these false prophets when they die
will spend an eternity in the lowest
possible hell. Billy Graham
tonight, the guy that led
millions and millions of people to hell
is in the lowest possible
hell. He has required
his flock
at Billy Graham's hand today
he's done it. And some day
the great shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to come back and he's going to make sure
that all of his scattered sheep
are going to be taken care of.
The Lord Jesus Christ is
always going to be a great shepherd
and he's going to deliver the flock
from the mouth of the devil and
from the mouth of the false prophets.
Luke 16, 13
says, no servant can serve two masters
for either he will hate the one
and love the other or else he will hold
to the one and despise the other.
He cannot serve
God and mammon.
You show me a preacher that loves
money and I'll show you a preacher that hates
God's word. You show me a preacher
that's covetous, I'll show you someone that
does not esteem highly any of
God's commandments. They don't care about anything that
God has to say. All they care
about is themselves. They don't care
about the flock. And you know
people get angry when
pastors and preachers call out
by name other preachers not even
realize that that is actually the loving
thing to do. You know, the
false prophets, they're the ones that are hurting you.
They're the ones that are evil.
They're the ones that are hurting God's
people and then it's like, oh, Pastor Shelley's
so mean. Called someone out.
Pastor Aaron Thompson, you know, every time a false prophet
dies, he preaches a why
insert false prophet's name here
is roasting in hell!
That's important! Because
guess what? Every single one of those
people are leading tons and tons
of people to hell. So why not
warn against them?
Why not warn against people like them?
I love it. I know people, you know,
Sweet Spirit Baptist Church, they don't like
to come to a church where they hear about some false
prophets roasting in hell. I love it!
Because you actually love people!
Because I actually love, you know,
God's word and don't want people destroyed
by just some covetous
false prophet that cares about nothing
but himself.
Let's skip some of this.
Let's go back to Jude.
Jude,
chapter Jude.
We learned about Cain.
What is he characterized by? He's characterized by false doctrine.
Balaam, what is he characterized by?
He's characterized by covetousness.
Now let's learn about Korah.
I better get there myself.
In Jude,
chapter 1, and let's look at really quickly at verse
11.
It says this,
So just like with Balaam, the Bible
it kind of gives us a little bit of a clue
as to what characteristic
Korah personifies.
And it's that of rebellion.
Of gainsaying.
I'll read for you the dictionary definition
of gainsaying. It says this,
To deny, dispute,
or contradict.
To speak against or oppose.
Some synonyms to this could be
throw word, to someone that's willingly
contrary, or rebellious.
So someone that is
a gainsayer. You know, they hear something
preached, they're just immediately like, nope, I just believe
the opposite. Just like, I have all these things
that I'm against. Here's the
way where every godly Christian's going, it's like
well, I got my own way.
Oh, I hear Pastor Shelley preach that, but I'm cool
I have a new doctrine.
And it's not just about one or two things, it's like
a person that's throw word, they're just
contrarian to everything.
They're just rebellious. They just despise
authority in all its forms. It's not like they
just disagree on a couple things.
They're just a rebellious, gainsaying
throw word person in general.
That's what Korah
was like. Now, Korah's best known
for what? For leading a rebellion.
So it makes sense that
rebellion would be the main characteristic
that a false prophet like Korah
would personify. Now, let's
look at the story of Korah in Numbers
chapter 16.
Number 16,
start reading in verse
number 1, it says, Now Korah,
the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath,
the son of Levi, and Dathan
and Abiram, the sons of Eliab,
and An, the son of Peleth,
sons of Reuben,
took men, and
they rose up before Moses with certain
of the children of Israel, 250
princes of the assembly,
notice this, famous in the
congregation, men of
renown. So what does Korah do?
When he's planning on leading his rebellion,
the first thing that he does is he gathers
all these men unto him. Now,
they're not just nobodies, they're people that are
well respected, men of
renown, people that are famous in the
congregation. And this makes me think of
2 Peter 2.10 where it says this,
But chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lusts of uncleanness
and despise government,
says, presumptuous
are they, self-willed, and are
not afraid to speak evil of
dignity. So the reason why Korah is
planning this rebellion is because he
despises Moses' authority.
And we're going to see that in a minute. But another thing
really quickly, I'll read for you in Jude
1.16, it says, These are murmurers,
complainers, walking after
their own lusts, and their mouth
speaketh great swelling words,
having men's persons in
admiration because
of advantage. So
Korah, the reason why he gathers
all these famous,
well-known men of renown
unto him, he has their person
in admiration, meaning he's a respecter
of persons, he's viewing them a certain
way differently than he would view other people.
Why? Because of advantage.
He has an advantage
that he wants to get, he wants to use them
for a purpose. It's not that Korah
actually cares about these 250
princes, these men of renown, these people
that are famous in the congregation, though he's
a respecter of persons, he
knows that they're famous, he knows that they're well-respected,
and so because he wants to use
them for a specific purpose,
he has their person in admiration because
of advantage, and he uses them to gather
them unto himself. Now let's keep
reading in verse number three,
and it says this,
So now we see
the contrarian,
throw-word, rebellious
mouth now coming out of Korah.
Now we see his gains say,
and this is what his plan is,
his plan is to speak against,
to be throw-word against the leadership,
and what does he do? He accuses
Aaron and he accuses Moses,
oh you guys are taking too much upon you,
don't you know that we're all just
as holy as you, right? We're all
just as holy as you are, Moses
and Aaron, you're not special,
there's nothing different about you, we're all
holy just like you. And he says this,
he gives this false accusation, he says,
Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation. So he's saying,
Moses and Aaron, you guys are just so
self-willed, you've just set yourselves
up above the congregation,
which is that even true?
Of course not. God's the one
that has ordained them, God is the
one that has set them up in
their position of authority, but
wicked people, and one of the attributes
of a false prophet, is that
they are rebellious,
they despise righteous
authority, and in fact, they
despise all authority. They
despise all government.
And we see that with a man like Cora
who's going to speak against Moses and Aaron.
I mean, if you're speaking against Moses and Aaron,
there's not a leader that you'll be happy with.
If you're not happy with Moses,
it's not like there's a better pastor down the street
that you could find. No, the real reason is
you're the wicked one, you're the
one that has a bad heart, if you've
got a problem with Moses and Aaron,
you know who you really have a problem with,
this is God.
And all of these false prophets are in
rebellion to God.
Because when you preach lies,
you're rebelling against God.
When you're speaking things other than what
the Bible says, you have a froward
mouth. You're being contrarian
against what God has said.
And that is an attribute
of a false prophet.
I'll read for you, let's keep going in verse 8.
Verse 8, it says this,
And Moses said unto Cora,
Here I pray you, ye sons of Levi,
seemeth it but a small thing unto you,
that the God of Israel hath separated
you from the congregation of Israel,
to bring you near to himself, and to
do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord,
and to stand before the congregation
to minister unto them.
Moses is saying like, hey, what's wrong with you?
You guys are already special. You guys are
already Levites. God has already
chosen you to do the work of God.
Why aren't you content with that?
Because these false prophets, they want to be the one in charge.
They hate any other type of authority.
They hate any other type of ruler or leadership.
They have to be running the show.
They are self-willed. They have to be
the one in charge. Verse 10,
And he hath brought thee near to him,
and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi,
with thee, and seek ye the priesthood
also, for which cause
both thou and all thy company
are gathered together, notice this,
against the Lord.
And what is Aaron
that ye murmur against him?
And here's what you have to understand.
When you are standing
against a righteous
man of God, you are standing
against God.
When you are speaking
against, when you're going around
and talking crap about
a righteous, ordained leader,
you are going around and talking crap
about God. That's how
the Holy Spirit inspired
Moses to view this situation.
Was that when they were coming against
Moses and coming against Aaron,
they weren't really coming against them, they were
coming against the God that put them in
their authority. And so whenever you
hear someone that wants to say, hey,
come over here. Did you hear this
about Pastor Shelley? And then just talk a bunch
of garbage on Pastor Shelley.
Start just crap talking him,
crap talking his family.
That is a bad sign.
That is a sign that you're dealing with someone
that is rebellious, that
is froward, that is a gainsayer,
and someone that's doing that, they're not
just saying that against Pastor Shelley. Guess what?
He is a God-ordained pastor
of a New Testament church, and he's
been given real authority by God
and when you're speaking that way of any
pastor, you're actually speaking against God.
That's why the Bible says, rebuke not an elder.
You're supposed to entreat him as a father.
You're not supposed to just walk up to the pastor
and just tell me, well let me just tell you
all the things I dislike about you.
No, that's not how you talk.
Oh, you just take too much upon
you. Don't you know we're all just as
holy as you are? Why have you set
yourself up in the position? Who do you
think you are, pastor?
That is the wrong attitude to have. It's a
wicked attitude, and it's something that's
characterized by a false prophet.
If I ever heard someone talking that way about
Pastor Shelley, or any other good pastor,
I would have serious red
flags going off in my mind. And if someone
talks that way about Pastor Shelley,
number one, tell him, and number two, you should
rebuke that person. Don't
allow that to happen. Don't just sit there and stay
quiet. If someone's gossiping or talking
crap about Pastor Shelley, you should rebuke
that publicly right then and there.
Let's read verse 23,
number 16.
And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the congregation,
saying, Get you up
from about the tabernacle of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose
up and went unto Dathan, and Abiram
and the elders of Israel followed him.
And he spake unto the congregation, saying,
Depart, I pray you, from the tents
of these wicked men, and
touch nothing of theirs, lest he
be consumed in all their
sins. So, what does God want Moses to
do? Well, he wants him to be a good leader here.
And what does a good leader do?
A good leader calls people like this
out, and says, Hey, everyone,
get away from Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram. Get away. Depart from these
wicked men. Get away from them.
They're bad people. That's what God
decided he wanted Moses to do,
is to call them out. And so
that's why sometimes pastors have to
call someone out for going around
and just being contrarian, being throw
a word, being someone that's wicked
and a gainsayer like Korah,
being someone that's rebellious.
Let's keep reading in verse 27, it says,
So they got up from the tabernacle
of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
on every side. And Dathan and Abiram
came out and stood in the door of
their tents, and their wives, and their sons,
and their little children. And Moses
said, Hereby ye shall know
that the Lord hath sent me to do all
these works. For I have not done them
of mine own mind. He's like, I'm not
self-willed like you guys. I'm actually
from God. I'm actually just speaking what God said.
Verse 29, If these men
die the common death of all men,
or if they be visited after the visitation
of all men, then the Lord hath not
sent me. But if the Lord make
a new thing, and the earth open
her mouth, and swallow them up
with all that appertain unto them,
and they go down quick into the
pit, then ye shall understand
that these men have provoked
the Lord.
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking
all these words, that the ground clave
asunder that was under them, and the earth
opened her mouth, and swallowed
them up, and their houses, and
notice this, and all the men
that appertained unto Korah,
and all their goods,
they and all that appertained
to them went down alive into the
pit, and the earth closed upon
them, and they perished from among
the congregation. Why is
it that you should preach against the Korahs
in the congregation? Why is it that you should call out
the false prophets like Korah
that creep in unawares? Because
all the men that appertained
unto Korah went where?
Hell. And when false
prophets gather people
to themselves, and they preach their damnable
false heresy, and they go around
and they sneak around and say, oh, pastors
wrong about the Trinity, let me tell you
about oneness, and they're going around
and getting people to believe in oneness,
or believe in damnable heresy, guess where those
people are going? The same place Korah's
going. The same place that false
prophet's going. And so a real pastor,
a real preacher,
would call that wicked person out.
And Moses did.
He's like, hey, let me give you a real clear
warning. Get away from these people.
They're wicked. I'm gonna
prove to you that God has spoken by
me. If these people die a normal death,
then God hasn't spoken by me.
But if the earth literally opens itself
up, and these people get an early
ticket straight to hell,
then you'll know how much these people have
provoked who? The Lord.
Not Moses. Moses, if you
actually read the entire chapter of number 16,
he actually gets down on his knees
and prays to God
for these people.
And the thing is, what people only see
is the viral
videos when pastors and preachers get up and
have to call someone out. They have to rebuke someone.
But they didn't necessarily see that same person
praying for that person for a long time.
Right? Because
for a long time there could be someone that has
some red flags that you're not sure about.
You don't know for sure if they're a false prophet.
They could just have some real big, hard issues.
And you're praying for that person. You're
praying for that person. You're praying for that person.
And then it's like God's saying, you better call
this person out. It's time
to take care of business, Moses.
How does God feel about it? Well, he opened up the earth
and sent these people straight into
hell. And sometimes,
you know, these bleeding hearts,
which this is such a great chapter too,
because the next day, look at
verse number 41, it says this,
But on the morrow all the congregation
of the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and against Aaron
saying, You have killed the people
of the Lord.
What are you talking about the people
of the Lord? They went to hell.
They're not saved.
They're not the people of the Lord.
But, you know, people that don't read the Bible, they might
have this bleeding heart where they're like,
well, that was kind of mean when he got
up and screamed and yelled and called
someone out. That must have been really uncomfortable
for that person. That was kind
of mean. It's like, don't be
a bleeding heart. They weren't the people of
the Lord. God sent them to hell
because they were wicked, because they were
false prophets. Purim was a
false prophet. David and Abiram,
false prophets. And what is
their characteristic? Rebellion.
Being a gainsayer.
Being thrower.
And just like some of these other things
I talked about, covetousness, it's not that
saying every single person that has
any streak of rebellion in their entire life
is an unsaved reprobate. That's not what I'm saying.
Pay attention. What I'm saying is that
when you gather these clues together and you're like,
okay, this person's preaching false doctrine.
Okay, and this person's
covetous. And this person's super
rebellious. It's like, okay, there's a good chance
that this is a super wicked false
prophet. Because these are things that the
Bible tells us. These are men that the Bible
gives us to characterize false
prophets. These men right here.
Now,
let's go to
let's skip some of this for the sake of time.
Let's just run some verses in Psalms and Proverbs
about forwardness.
And we'll close with that, but let's go to
Psalm 101.
I just want to show you really quickly what the
Bible says about being forward.
Because, you know, we live in a really rebellious
society. The United States
is a really rebellious country.
And you can see that in how the world
raises their kids. How the children
talk to their parents. And how they act
in public. You can hear it when
you see the college students
burning a city down and saying, defund the police.
Right? Because they're completely
rebellious because they despise
government. It's ridiculous,
right? People are forward.
What does the Bible say about someone that's forward?
Let's just run through some verses here and then
we'll close it out. Psalm 101
4 says this, a forward heart
shall depart from me.
I will not know a wicked person.
So the Bible interchanges a person that's
forward as a person that's
wicked. And the Bible is saying, I won't even know
someone that's wicked like this. Someone that's
forward. Someone that's just rebellious. Someone
that's just contrarian against everything.
If there's anything the pastor preaches,
oh, that's wrong. I know better.
Now, I won't even know a person like that.
A forward, wicked, rebellious person like that.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 3.
Proverbs chapter number 3.
Let's look at verse 30. It says,
Strive not with
a man without cause if he have done
thee no harm. Hey, Cora.
Hey, Dathan. Hey, Abiram.
Strive not with a man without
cause if he hath done thee
no harm. What did Moses ever do to you?
What harm did Moses and Aaron
ever do to you guys? What are these people like?
Verse 31, Envy not thou the oppressor
and choose none of his ways.
For the froward is
abomination to the Lord.
But his secret is with the righteous.
People like Cora, Dathan, and Abiram,
God looks at them and says, you're an abomination
to me. You just, you can't be controlled.
You can't submit yourself to any authority.
You despise government.
You despise mom and dad's rules.
You know, women that despise their husband's
authority. Workers that just
despise bosses, right?
People that despise God.
Hello, reprobates.
Haters of God.
Froward, rebellious, contrarian
people like that. God says, if you're a person
that just despises all authority,
you're just rebellious, that's just an abomination.
He hates it.
Let's flip over to Proverbs 6.
Should be the next page. Proverbs chapter
number 6, look at verse 12. A knotty person,
a wicked man,
walketh with a froward
mouth. He winketh with his eyes.
He speaketh with his feet.
He teacheth with his fingers.
Frowardness is in his heart. He deviseth
mischief continually.
He soweth discord.
Remember what we talked about, about people that
literally just, they sit in their bed at night
just thinking ways to hurt people?
Well, here's the thing. Mischief in the Bible
is not like how you say, oh, little Johnny's a little
mischievous. That's kind of how we use it
in America. Mischief in the Bible is
extreme wickedness.
Extreme wickedness.
And someone that's froward, the Bible says
that they're literally just devising mischief
continually. Non-stop.
They don't stop being wicked.
They're just continually devising
mischief. And what do they do? He soweth
discord. You ever see someone
in the church that starts going around
sowing discord? Don't
just not believe the Bible
and be like, ah, but I had a couple good
experiences with him. He seems like a pretty nice guy.
Actually, the Bible says that he's devising
mischief continually.
And you ought to just believe what the word of God says
and not just say, well, you know, he's my friend.
No, you better watch out for someone that wants to go
around and sow discord and be
rebellious and be froward
and just be contrarian. That's a sign of a
wicked person.
Proverbs 8 13 says
the fear of the Lord is to hate
evil, pride, and
arrogance in the evil way, and the
froward mouth do I
hate. You shouldn't put up with it.
You should not put up with someone that wants to blow
their mouth off and be contrarian
and be rebellious. Don't let
that ever be the culture of this
church. Don't put up with it. I don't care who you
are. Rebuke it if you see that kind of
attitude. It's a wicked attitude to have.
Let's go to
Acts, chapter number 20, and this will be
the last scripture for this evening.
So we're talking about the characteristics of false
prophet from Jude. He's listing some
false prophets. Who does he list? Pain.
What is he characterized by?
False doctrine,
damnable heresy, work salvation,
things like that. Number two, he lists
Balaam, who's
characterized by covetousness. He'll preach
anything for money. He'll curse
anyone for money. He'll do anything whatsoever
just to fill his pocket, and he's not
only covetous about money. You better
also watch out because he's a predator most likely
too.
Number three, we talked about Korah. He's
rebellious. He's a pro-word. He's
contrarian. Why is it
that we need to look out and be watchful
for people like this? We'll look at
Acts, chapter number 20, verse 28.
Paul, he's speaking to the elders at Ephesus,
and he says this in verse 28,
Also of your own self
shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years
I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears.
So Paul,
he saw this issue of false
prophets as being a big enough
problem to where for three years
straight, night and day, he warned
against false prophets with tears.
Why does he have tears? Because
he knows that these people actually hurt
people. He knows that these false prophets
actually send people to hell and devour
them like grievous wolves.
And I want us to think about this because
if you look at the last year
of Pure Words Baptist Church
and Steadfast Baptist Church,
our battles have been mostly
with the world.
It's been the protesters,
it's been the sodomites, it's been God-hating
landlords, it's been all sorts of crazy
stuff. But let me just tell you
don't just be so focused on the enemies
out there that you don't realize that there could
still be wolves to creep in to this church.
There will be wolves that
creep into this church some day. Paul said
it will happen. And so you need to
know what to look for,
what are some red flags that you
can be identifying when some
day that that happens to this church.
And look, I'm not saying that everyone should just have a
reprobate button and someone walks in and they're a little weird
just like, reprobate, you know. There's people that are like
that and it's like, whoa buddy,
he just got saved like yesterday.
Like, come on man,
he's not a false prophet, he's just a little strange.
But you know what, you got
to be vigilant.
These people actually do hurt people
and everyone's responsible for this, for being
vigilant. If you actually care about people,
if you don't want people to be harmed by false doctrine,
by covetousness and all these things, you need
to be vigilant and looking out
for false prophets. And I only covered
three characteristics. There's
a lot more than this too. If you want to go read
2 Peter chapter 2 and Jude,
it gives you much more descriptors of what
a false prophet's like to help you be able to
identify these people.
Let's go ahead and close with a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank you so much for your word.
We thank you for the warning that
you gave us to beware of false prophets
and that we'll know them by their fruits.
Lord, I pray that we just pay very close
attention to the things that people
say, both out soul winning and behind the pulpit,
that we wouldn't just be deceived by
a false prophet. I pray that you please
protect Pure Words Baptist Church
and do not allow people to come
in here and just turn people's hearts away
from the word of God. I pray that
every single person in here would be very vigilant
to be on the watch for these type of
things and help us just to
continue reading our Bibles and giving us
more wisdom. We love you so much. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.
Amen.