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If you don't fit your voice here, I'll probably pay attention to you. Thank you. Right, amen. So the question is, are there apostles today? That is what we're gonna be talking about this evening. Look down in Revelation chapter two in verse number two. So the Bible says, and of course, this is Jesus speaking here into the church at Ephesus. He says, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars. So of course, we're gonna talk about that this evening, about whether or not there are apostles today. Now, on the surface, yes, there are people who say they are apostles. There is a denomination that's actually, I don't know how popular it is. It seems to be growing around here, I don't know if it's a denomination or it's just a fad or whatever it is. There's a group of Pentecostals. They're more fundamental type Pentecostals, and they're called apostolics. You'll see a first apostolic church of five mile or what have you. Now, around here, they are one of the other groups that go door to door quite regularly. We've actually been caught in some of the same complexes as these people, and I've gotten the unfortunate privilege to hear some of their gospel presentation, which is not a gospel presentation. It's a probation presentation. I literally was walking by and kind of purposely trying to listen to one of these people attempt to convert somebody, and they were just going just very hard on you have to turn from your sins, and you have to receive the sign gifts and speak in tongues. And there are apostles today. Those things never went away, and that's kind of their message. But either way, it's good to know what the Bible says about this subject. So, only in case you run into these people, you can know for sure what to say. Now, back to this verse here in Revelation chapter two. Notice what the Lord says, though. He says that he's actually, he's pleased with them, first of all, before he gives them the unfortunate news, before he gives them the bad news. He says, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, okay? And what's interesting is he highlights a specific group of people after he says this that you and I would definitely say are evil. Look what he says, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles. And he says, and are not, and hast found them liars, okay? So, they're actually getting praise for doing this, because some people might listen to this and say, well, you know, why are you calling people out, and why do you have to dig on people? Well, here we have an example of a group of Christians from Ephesus who actually observe people saying they're apostles, and what do they do? They put them to the test, and they found them based off the information and scriptures which they had at their time, and found them to be liars. So, if you would, keep your place in Revelation. We're gonna come back to this neighborhood in a minute, but go to Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians chapter number two, we're just gonna start off here with a very quick point on the apostles, and keep in mind, I'm talking about the 12 apostles this evening, okay? The 12 apostles primarily. So, is there something in the book of Ephesians, in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, that would give us some insight on how to find them liars? Now, let's take a look at something here. Remember, this is stuff that you have to find in the scripture, okay? Now, when it comes to bishops, when it comes to being a pastor, you know, you can go to 1 Timothy, you can go to Titus, and there's just a crystal clear list. You know, you must be these things. Cut and dry, very easy, very simple, very plain. You violate it, you violate scripture, okay? Now, the apostle doctrine is a little bit more difficult. It's something that we actually have to dig and find, just like the Ephesians did. So, Ephesians chapter number two, look at verse 19. Verse 19, so Paul says, "'Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, "'but fellow citizens with the saints, "'and of the household of God.'" Now, here it is in verse number 20. "'And are built upon the foundation of.'" Now, look at this here, the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner, okay? So again, obviously these three things are one. This is a picture, if you will, of the entire word of God. You have the prophets, which would basically summarize the Old Testament. You have the apostles, which are basically establishing, at this point in time, the New Testament. And then, of course, you have Jesus Christ, who is the word of God and is the chief corner. But what I want you to notice here is that second word in verse 20. He says, "'And are built.'" Well, who is that are referring to there? Well, verse 19, he says, "'Now therefore ye.'" The Ephesians, but not only the Ephesians, but the saints, believers, Christians, okay? So, we as Christians are built upon the foundation, singular, the foundation of the apostles and prophets. There's only one Old Testament, there is only one New Testament, and there is only one Jesus Christ. Now, just to be fair, go to Revelation chapter number 21. So, the first point that I wanna bring up this evening is what I call the foundation principle, okay? How many foundations does this building have? Well, it has one, okay? It has one foundation. Now, typically a house is gonna have one foundation. This here, in verse number 20, Paul is telling the Ephesians that, hey, Christianity as a whole, we have one foundation, which was given to us by Jesus Christ. That is the apostles and the prophets. So, one foundation, okay? It's very important to understand. Now, just to be fair, I had you go to Revelation chapter 21, just to see something here in case somebody wants to try to get you on this. But in Revelation chapter 21 here, there's a description of John seeing the vision of New Jerusalem, okay? Now, look at verse number 14. It says, and the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb, okay? So, yes, in this verse here, we see 12 foundations, but apparently in these 12 foundations, they hold up one wall, and the names of the 12 apostles are in them, okay? But that is a reference, that is a visual of the wall in New Jerusalem, okay? It's separate from Ephesians chapter two in verse 20. And I just have to bring this up because these apostolics, I've heard them use this verse here. They say, well, there's many foundations, and there's many apostles, and there's apostles today, and that simply isn't true, okay? The Ephesians clearly understood this, okay? They clearly understood that we are built upon the foundation singular of the apostles and prophets, the Old and New Testament, and obviously that is given to us by Jesus Christ. But I wanted to kind of just also read this verse to get that in your mind, 12 apostles of the Lamb. 12 apostles of the Lamb. Very important as we begin to study this. Now, go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. So again, the first thing that you could throw out, that you could explain to somebody, that you could teach somebody is the foundation principle. There's one foundation, okay? And it is made up, according to Paul, of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner, okay? Not foundation after foundation after foundation through the centuries. That is a lie. You're gonna see that is not true. There are 12 apostles of the Lamb, specifically that's what we're talking about, okay? Now I understand there's some variations on how many apostles were there total. We'll have to address that at another time. We're talking about the 12 apostles of the Lamb this evening, okay? Now let's move on to the second test, which is the one we're gonna spend the most time on this evening. 2 Corinthians 12, look at verse number 12. Look at what Paul tells the Corinthians here. He says, truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. Very interesting here. So according to Paul, he's reminding the Corinthians that they have the blessing, they had the wonderful opportunity, if you will, to actually see with their own eyes the signs of an apostle. Now what might these be? We'll go to Mark chapter number 16 and we'll start to answer that question. But number two is something that you're gonna see as we study is that sign gifts were given to the apostles. So these signs often followed the apostles. And you're gonna see something else very interesting when we get to Acts about these signs and who's able to give them and who is not able to give these signs. Now you're going to Mark chapter number 16. Now I would like to ask the question and I have asked this question before to Pentecostals or apostolics, people who claim that there's still apostles today like the Mormons and there's all kinds of groups out there that claim this and I'm not trying to start a fight but the question is, did you shut down your church and wear a mask during the coronavirus? Okay, look, again, I'm not trying to start a fight or be rude but if you did, why? If you have the gifts of healing and you can heal people and you can do these miracles, why wouldn't you have taken that timeframe, that opportunity to show God's mighty works to the people? Why weren't you down at the hospitals? Is it because you're a fraud? Is it because you're a liar? I think you know the answer to that. Mark chapter 16, look at verse number 14. Very important, pay attention to this first sentence specifically. Mark 16, verse 14, after the resurrection, look at what it says, afterward he, this is Jesus, afterward he appeared unto the 11. Okay, Judas is gone, he's tapped out, he's done for. Afterward he appeared unto the 11, that is very important here, very important for the context. It says this, as they sat at me and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believe not them which had seen him after he was risen. So again, notice the track record of the apostles, they're just men, they are human, they had issues too just like everyone else. What I find interesting today is that people who claim to be apostles, people who claim to have been in the presence of an apostle will often say, oh, there's just something warm in my heart when I run into these people or when I talk to the apostle, like they just have it all put together, they don't sin, they've got their life in order, let me tell you right now, that is a lie. Okay, how many times do we have to preach this that everyone has problems? So when you're introduced to a group of people who claim they don't have any problems, you need to take a look at that a little closer. So they're getting upbraided for their unbelief and Jesus is just rebuking them here, look at verse 15. And he said unto them, okay, who is the them? The 11 apostles. And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The reason why it says ye as opposed to you, even though both describe plurality, both describe plural groups is because this is also a command to us, to every believer to get out there and preach the gospel. Okay, and of course, the 11 are who? They are the apostles whom the New Testament was founded on, okay? Their words inspired by the Holy Ghost obviously would go on into every creature, all generations. So hopefully that makes sense. He says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Verse 16, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That is not talking about water baptism. I don't have time to get into that right now. But he that believeth not shall be damned. Now look at verse 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe. Again, who is he talking to here? The 11 apostles. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues or languages, known languages. Verse 18, they shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, there's a hypothetical. If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. Okay, who is the them? The 11, okay? And obviously you could graph Paul into this. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Now quick note about the end of that verse there. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Despite the faith level of these people, okay? You see oftentimes today these faith healers or these fake healers that are out there, they'll say, well, you didn't get healed from whatever's plaguing you because you lack faith, okay? You don't see that in the New Testament. When someone has the gift of healing, they go up and heal. They're not like how much faith do you have, you know? They don't really do stuff like that. Now obviously there were times where Jesus would try to teach a lesson about faith in that, you know, if you believe. But when it comes to the apostles and it comes to demonstrating signs, which by the way were a sign unto the Jews. We'll have to get into that another day. But when it comes to the apostles giving these signs, okay, they would just heal somebody. They wouldn't be like, okay, well let me see your faith meter. Can you pull that out so I can see how much faith you have in order for this to work? No, this is a command here. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. That is a guarantee, okay? That is what he is saying. Now, quick note about verse 18. The only record we have about a serpent or a snake biting somebody is the apostle Paul in the book of Acts. And of course, what does he do? He shakes the serpent off into the fire. And the people around him, what do they do? They say, well, he's about to tap out here in a minute. He's about to be done for. And what happens? He doesn't die. And they'll start wondering like, wait a second. You should be in pain. You should be in agony. You should be dead. And he was just like, yeah, whatever. Keeps on going. And then now they know, oh wait, there's something special about you that opens up opportunities for people to get saved. And thus, the need and the benefit of the sign gives, okay? Now, people will often use this, well, you know, we know people in Africa that are apostles and they drink poison and they still live. No, you don't. You're lying. It's always somebody in Africa. You ever notice that? It's always somebody in a distant, faraway continent that did these things. No, you didn't. You know why? This is my opinion here, okay? I'm just gonna just blurt out my opinion here. The reason why I don't think that you have an example in the New Testament of somebody drinking a deadly thing and surviving is because I believe that people today would be trying it, okay? I mean, do you have people today playing with snakes and handling snakes, claiming they have the gift of God? Yes, all the time. And guess what? Sometimes those people get bit and they go to the hospital or worse, they die. So that's just my opinion. Take it for what it is. The point in Mark chapter 16 here is that these signs shall follow them that belief. It's talking about the apostles, but not only the apostles, but only whom they, specifically they, come into contact with. I'm gonna prove that to you. Go to Acts chapter number eight. Acts chapter number eight. All right, Acts chapter number eight. Just for some context here, chapter eight begins with Saul before he became Paul, before he became the apostle, he's wreaking havoc on the church. And basically what happens as the disciples and a lot of the converts, they have to get, they're basically spread out, okay? They start going other places to preach the gospel because of all the damage that Paul is doing. And then Philip, as we're gonna see, goes down to Samaria and begins to preach the gospel and get people saved. So again, just to back that up, look at verse number one of Acts chapter eight. The Bible says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. That is the death of Deacon Stephen, back in chapter seven. It says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which, and this will come back in a minute, okay? Which was at Jerusalem, okay? The church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, okay? So the apostles stayed back. So keep in mind what you have here, okay? Paul's wreaking havoc on the church. You have the church in Jerusalem. You got people leaving. They're going to different parts of Judea. They're going to Samaria and the apostles have stayed back. Now jump down to verse number six. So Philip goes preaching to Samaria, goes to give them the gospel. Look what it says in verse six. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing, look at this, the miracles which he did. Now, interesting. Where did he get the ability or the gift to do these miracles? Keep in mind where he came from. Came from the church, which is at Jerusalem, which at that time housed what? The apostles. The 11 apostles whom Jesus was talking to in Mark 16. Look at verse number seven. So Philip doing miracles, verse seven. Here are the signs. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them and many taken with palsies and that were lame, were, what does it say? Healed, okay? Again, healed, just like Jesus said in Mark 16, 17. These signs shall follow them that believe, okay? Saying that to the 11 apostles. Those same apostles are at Jerusalem. They, what I want you to understand, what you're gonna see here is they were the ones that gave Philip that ability because God had allowed them to do that. Now, jump down to verse number 12. It says this, but when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Verse 13, then Simon himself, so Simon was a magician. Now, Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. So hopefully at this point, we're all clear. Philip has the gifts. Philip has the gifts that the apostles have and he's doing them. There's no question about it. People are wondering, there's no debate. There's no like, that doesn't sound right. They're not like, hey, Philip, why does it always seem like you only go to people that have a migraine to get them healed or maybe a twinge in their ankle? Okay, none of that. He's doing full on miracles, crystal clear, no debate. Simon is now wondering about this. Look at verse 14. Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem, okay, key word there, when who? The apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Now, who are Peter and John? What is their position? They are apostles, okay? Interesting. They have to send Peter and John for some reason, okay? They couldn't have Philip do it. They had to have Peter and John who are apostles. Look at verse 15. Who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, okay? I'm gonna give you an example of what that looks like in Acts 10 here in a moment, okay? So again, context. Philip goes to Samaria, preaches the word of God. They're getting saved, okay? People are following him. He's got Simon the magician following him and he's doing miracles, okay? But the question you should have and the question that I have is why wasn't Philip able to give the people of Samaria the Holy Ghost, meaning the signs and wonders? It had to be done by the apostles, okay? Why is that? Look at verse 16. Says, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So they were saved. They were placed into the body of Christ, but they haven't received the gift of the Holy Ghost, the signs, okay? Which again, I'll explain that here in a minute, the significance of that. Look at verse 17. Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost, okay? Interesting. You have the 11 at Jerusalem who are apostles. You have one of their deacons, Philip, one of their evangelists, Philip, okay? Who's preaching, he's soul winning, he's doing these miracles, which by the way, I already said are a sign unto the Jew, okay? That's what the whole purpose of all this was to be a sign unto the Jew. He wasn't able to do this. He had to go and get, he had to go and send for an apostle to come down in order for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Ghost and to be able to do what he is doing. Philip was not able to impart that, okay? That's very important to understand when you're studying the doctrine of the apostles of the lamb, okay? Because when someone comes to you today and says, hey, well, our church has apostles and I'm an apostle or whatever the case is, you know that they are lying, okay? There has to be one of those 11 whom Jesus was speaking to, who Jesus commissioned in order for those things to happen. Verse 18, and when Simon saw, look at this, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. Now, why did he offer them money? And what exactly did he see? Well, let's take a look, go to Acts chapter number 10. Acts chapter number 10. So I'm gonna summarize this up real quick. There was a Gentile by the name of Cornelius who gets, he's doing alms, he's praying to God. Of course, the Lord hears his prayers, tells him to go see Peter, who is an apostle, and he will tell you words whereby you must be saved. So Cornelius does this, winds up getting saved. Notice Peter, the apostle here, what he does at this moment here, verse 44. Peter preaching the gospel, verse 44, Acts 10. While Peter yet spake these words, look at this, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word, verse 45, and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished. Now, why is that? As many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, verse 46, for they heard them speak with tongues, languages, and to magnify God, then answered Peter. Okay, so back up here, understand what you're dealing with here. Okay, you have Acts chapter two, the Holy Ghost falls on the apostles, falls on the Jews, so the Jews get the signs, they get the sign gifts, they get to experience that. Acts chapter eight, Saul's wreaking havoc on the church. What happens? Philip goes and gets the Samaritan saved, sends word back to Jerusalem, the apostles come down, and now they get the Samaritans, the Holy Ghost, so now you have the Jews with the Holy Ghost, you have the Samaritans with the Holy Ghost and those signs and that's what Simon saw, he saw what you just read here in Acts 10 and wanted to pay money for it because he wanted glory and that was kinda his nature. And now in Acts chapter 10, you have the Holy Ghost falling on the Gentiles, so you have the Jews, the Samaritans, which are their own category in themselves, and the Gentiles, you have these three in one, which collectively is a sign unto the unbelieving Jew that Jesus is Christ and the word of God will go forth just like Jesus taught for his three and a half year ministry, okay? Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 11. So all that to say this, you need an apostle in order to give out these signs and wonders. There are no more apostles alive on the earth today, therefore, anybody saying that they are an apostle is a liar, okay? So what have we talked about thus far? Well, number one, just very quickly, we went to Ephesians and I told you about the foundation principle, that the saints, the church, the believers, we are built on the foundation of the apostles, New Testament and the prophets, the Old Testament, obviously given by Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. And then number two, it is clear in the Bible, when you find this, when you look for this and you study this, that signs were only able to be distributed by apostles. Philip couldn't do it, he had to go get the apostles in order to do that. So let's take a look at number three. Number three, a very easy one and that is this, that false prophets are burdensome, okay? False prophets are burdensome in everything that they do. They're burdensome in their so-called gospel presentation because everybody who claims to be an apostle teaches probation, 100%. They all teach that you gotta repent of your sins, every single one of them, okay? Look at 2 Corinthians 11 and let me prove this to you here. Look at verse number one. So Paul says, would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. And so he's writing like this because people in Corinth were saying that he is foolish and they were basically upset at him. Verse two, he says, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Okay, so Paul's objective here is very clear. It is to give them truth and to glory in Christ only. That is the only reason Paul the apostle is doing these things. He's about to flip this though, he's about to contrast what he does versus false apostles. Look at verse three, he says, but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. That is exactly what false apostles do. That is what false prophets do. That is what all sorts of people do. Verse four, for if he that cometh, preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. So Paul's worried about their discernment level and he's worried that somebody could come in and transform themselves, if you will, into a minister of Christ, but yet preach false things and they would go off and believe them and just get all messed up. Verse five, he says, for I suppose I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles, but though I be rude in speech, yet not knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. So he's saying, look, you've seen the transparency that I have. We hide nothing. We tell you everything that we've been taught and we tell you everything that we believe. Okay? Can you get that from, let's say, the quorum of 12 apostles in the Mormon church? No. You gotta go get the doctrine of covenants and then you gotta go get the Book of Mormon and then you gotta go and make sure you read all the writings of the current prophet so that, you know, he can expound all those things. It's just a giant mess is what it is. It's a nightmare. It is not what you're reading here whatsoever. Verse seven, have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely. Okay, so he's like, hey, look, I put myself down here. I put Christ up here and I told you that the gospel is free. But he knows that there are people who don't agree with that. There are people coming around saying the contrary and so he's questioning them on that. Verse eight, he says, I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. He's saying, look at this example. I'm putting myself and everyone else I know down here to lift you up, to give you everything for free. Now look what he says in verse nine. He says, and when I was present with you and wanted, meaning he was lacking, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. We talked about that a couple, a few Sunday nights in a row. And in all things I have kept, look at this, myself. The apostle Paul saying this, I kept myself from being burdensome unto you and so will I keep myself. So that's the subject here. He's saying, hey, I've kept myself burdensome. That's basically what he's been saying since verse one. Verse 10, as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. So he's saying, look, if you're gonna glow, if you're gonna worry about something and you're gonna be puffed up, make sure it's about Christ. Make sure it's about the freeness of the gospel, the freeness and transparency of the word of God. Verse 11, he says, wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth. Now look at verse 12. He says, but what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them, which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. So he's saying that my desires for these people who are trying to transform themselves into apostles, transform themselves into ministers of light. He's saying, I want you to see them for what they are, that they're mere men, that they are sinners, that they are not perfect, they are not righteous of their own accord, they are liars. Now look what he says here in verse 13. And this is what I wanted to show you. For such are what? False apostles. There is a clue in this. For such are false apostles. Now he could have used any other word that he wanted to there, but he used the word apostle. That gives us insight, that gives us a clue, okay? That gives us a clue. What you should do is just meditate from verse one all the way to here on your own time again. I know we just read it, but sometimes this can be a lot. And just think intently about what Paul is telling the Corinthians here, okay? All those attributes that are negative that we just read about, those are all going to be found in a false apostle. Anybody who claims to be an apostle today, okay, who is not one of the apostles of the lamb, you're gonna see that they are burdensome. They're burdensome in their gospel presentation, they're burdensome in their teaching. I mean, think about it, okay? What do the apostles in the Church of Mormon do? Gimme, gimme, gimme. Well, take your money. We demand that 10%. It's not a, if you wanna come here, like you have to pay, or we will send someone to take it from you. Okay, that's what the sons of Eli who were the sons of Belial did. Okay, it's horrible and it's wicked. They are burdensome to people. They cause people to abort the offering of God. They cause people to hate the things of the Lord. It's the same thing that the apostolics do here who claim to have apostles today. They go around and they just basically preach this probationary false gospel, and they put men in fear and bonds. That's what they do. They are burdensome. For such, verse 13, are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Then Paul says, and no marvel, okay? You don't have to wonder about this. He says it's nothing to be super amazed about. And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works. Now go to Galatians chapter number one. Galatians chapter number one. So I said number one is the foundation principle, okay? The church, and when I say church, I'm not one of these church age people, but the Bible does say that every believer is in the church of Christ, the church of God. Every saint will be his congregation, okay? So every believer alive today is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. And number two, signs follow the apostles. Only apostles could give out the Holy Ghost in the way they would produce the signs that you read about in Mark 16 from Jesus Christ. There are no more apostles alive today. The 12 apostles of the Lamb are in heaven awaiting the earth's judgment. And number three, false apostles are burdensome. Okay, but what I think Paul's also saying in 2 Corinthians 11 is that they have devils in them. Okay, I'm not saying every one of them is possessed, but they are definitely led by the ministers of Satan. That's why Paul brings that up. So you can see that connection. Pick an apostle. Pick somebody who calls himself an apostle today and you will find the devil, you will find burden, you will find all sorts of issues. Now, we're gonna move on to the fourth thing, which is actually a group of three. And these are, let's take a look at the requirements to be an apostle, okay? Is there anyone alive today that's gonna meet these requirements? Let's take a look. Galatians chapter number one. Look at verse number one. Look at how Paul starts off the letter to the Galatians. He says, Paul, an apostle, now very important what he says next, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Very important. Paul says that he is an apostle, not because men made him one, okay? Not because he just woke up one day and decided I'm gonna be an apostle. He is an apostle because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ chose him. Now go to 2 Timothy chapter one real quick. And then we're gonna go to John six. 2 Timothy chapter number one. And let's see if we can figure out the first requirement to be an apostle. So Paul says that he was chosen. He was not an apostle by man, but by Jesus Christ. Look what he tells Timothy here, 2 Timothy chapter one. Look at verse number one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And here it is, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. So it was the will of God that the apostle Paul got his apostleship, okay? Now go to John chapter number six. John chapter number six. We're gonna look all the way over to verse 70. John chapter number six. And if I haven't said it already, the first requirement to be an apostle is you had to be chosen by Jesus Christ himself. Verse 70 here is going to prove that. John six verse 70, look at what this says. It says, Jesus answered them. These are the apostles here. Now sometimes you'll see disciple and apostle interchange. So you gotta pay attention to context here, but he's talking to the apostles. Look what he says. Jesus answered them, verse 70, have not I chosen you 12? And one of you is a devil. It's a great question, okay? And obviously we know that that's Judas Iscariot. So based off of what Paul says in Galatians, what he says in Timothy and in other places in the New Testament, we can definitely draw the conclusion that a requirement to be an apostle of the Lamb is you had to be chosen by the Lamb, hand picked, okay? Chosen by God. Now we don't have time to go to all these other verses and acts, but obviously after Judas Iscariot commits suicide and the disciples or the apostles are waiting for the Holy Ghost and they're waiting to get started. They're waiting for things to get going. They're like, well, there was 12 of us at the beginning and we need to pick somebody else. So what do they do? They cast lots and the lot falls on Matthias. And you know, cause people say, well, what about him? Is he like the 13th apostle? Well, again, what did Paul say? What is Jesus saying here? Jesus said, I chose these 12, yet one's a devil. And then Paul saying, I was chosen by Christ, okay? So the apostle Matthias, he was chosen by men, okay? So he didn't make the cut. That is definitely what you're gonna see when you study this out. And I'm not saying he didn't, I mean, we don't know anything about him, good or bad. We have nothing in the New Testament after he was chosen in the book of Acts, but we have a whole lot about the apostle Paul, don't we? So just keep that in mind. And of course, go to Galatians chapter one again. Number two, very quickly, I'm just gonna give it to you. They must have seen the resurrected Christ, okay? They must have seen him. Jesus appeared to the 11. We took a look at that in Mark 16, obviously other places in the gospels. And you say, well, what about the apostle Paul? Is he kind of like separate on his own little age? Well, he's kind of like one that was born out of due season, but he has the same mission. And guess what? He did see the Lord Jesus Christ. Go read Acts chapter nine, gives you a full breakdown of that. He got his vision in Acts chapter nine of the Lord Jesus Christ, had a conversation with him. So he would definitely qualify. He got to see the resurrected Christ in that way. So number two, they must have seen the resurrected Christ. We're getting close to being done here. Let's go to Galatians chapter one and look at number three, which is what you're gonna find here, that the apostles, in order to be an apostle, you must be taught by him personally for three years. You say, well, how's that work with Paul? Because he was kind of born out of due time. Well, let's take a look at it. Galatians chapter one, look at verse number 11. Paul says this, but I certify you. Cause remember the whole problem here with the Galatian church is Judaizers came in and they're trying to say, well, you got to turn from your sins and get circumcised, do all this crazy stuff. Okay, Paul's getting upset here. He says this in verse 11, but I certify you brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after men for neither, and this is key, for neither received it, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, okay? So again, the apostles, how much time do they spend with Christ? About three years, three and a half years, something of that nature. Paul, you're gonna see, same thing. He was not given this by man. Yes, Ananias told him to get up and be baptized. I understand that, but he was taught by the Lord for about the same time, about three years. Look at verse 16, just skip down for sake of time. He says, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood. So this is after he gets saved. Verse 17, neither when I up to Jerusalem to them, which were apostles before me, but I went down, or I'm sorry, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Now look at this here in verse 18. Then after three years, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days, okay? Very important to understand there, okay? So we're just about done here. I'm gonna cut this off because I got a lot more and it's gonna be like another hour. So we're just gonna have to stop this here tonight. The point is, the question of the sermon, are there apostles today? Well, my question is, is there anybody a couple thousand years old today that's still roaming around the earth, okay? Is there anybody that can prove that they've been specifically chosen by Jesus Christ himself? No, because Jesus doesn't audibly speak to people, go see Hebrews chapter number one. We'll prove that again some other time. So you have to be chosen by Jesus Christ. Is there anybody today that's seen the resurrected Christ? There's a bunch of people who say they have, but guess what those people do? They write books and sell them to you for money and they're filled with lies, okay? There's all kinds of them that are out there, okay? So the answer is no. And of course, number three, is there anybody alive today that's been taught by him personally for three years? Now, yeah, we could say, yeah, well, from the word of God and that's true, but not like Paul, okay? Paul got the vision and there's many more instances in the New Testament where Paul reveals things that Jesus had spoken to him. And so you don't have that today. And again, three other just quick points about whether or not there are apostles today is number one, the foundation principle, okay? And the Bible says there is one foundation. There's one foundation that God is building up the saints on that is the foundation of the apostles. Picture of the New Testament, the prophets, picture of the Old Testament given by Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, okay? And then number two, remember the sign gifts. They were given specifically to the 11, then obviously to number 12, which is the apostle Paul. Philip, the evangelist, he was not able to impart the sign gifts. He had to go get an apostle. And then of course, number three, we said that they are burdensome. They're burdensome in their gospel. They're burdensome in their teaching. They're burdensome with money. They are walking bondage, but yet they speak almost like a Christian, like, hey brother, Bible, church, they say the lingo, they say certain things. You scratch the surface a little bit and you will find nothing but decay and absolute corruption. And so hopefully you remember those things that's gonna kind of help you out should you run into some people that claim to be in contact with apostles or God forbid, to be apostles themselves. Let's bow our heads, have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for the truth. Just pray you'd help us to remember these things, teach them to others, and I pray you bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.