We're gonna go ahead and get started. See everybody this evening. Go ahead and get situated. We'll pull out our hymnals for our first song this evening. It'll be song number 379. On 379, "Bringing in the Sheaves." 379. 379.
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, searing in the clouds, winters chilling green, and by the hand the labor end.
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, 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 loss sustained our spirit of take grieves.
When our weeping's over he will bid us well, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing.
Pray for us this evening, go ahead and flip in your hymnals to song number two, to song number two, glory to his name, song number two.
Swear my saviour, cleansing from sin, I cry my heart, hold us so sweetly, fight with saviour today.
For the announcements, go ahead and pull out your bulletins, didn't receive one this morning, go ahead and raise your hand, and Brother James will bring them around to you.
You have our service times listed at the top left, Sunday morning, 10.30am, Sunday evening, 5.30pm, and that midweek Bible study is on Thursday at seven.
We have our churchwide 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 70 report from today.
So we're at 127. So we got a lot more soul winning events to look forward to.
We are shooting for that 1,000, that 1,000 salvation mark for this year. And man, I feel good about it. Keep increasing each year.
So that's what we're shooting for. Job soul winning. Keep Sister Corinne 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 gets delivered well.
Well, some upcoming guest preachers. We have a new list today. April 3rd, we have Brother Dylan Oz.
He came down from Steadfast Baptist Church. It's been a blessing having him. He had a great message this morning for us.
So definitely shake his hand. Thank him for coming down. It's a blessing having all these guys.
April 17th, we have Brother Duncan Urbanek. 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 that's a Thursday.
So hey, you know, make sure to be here for all these guys. You know, 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, Pastor Shelley in your prayers.
And I forgot to mention this morning, keep Brother Jeff Goodwin and his family in your prayers as well.
Everybody up there. We have Stronghold Baptist Church listed.
We're going to keep listing new churches in the new IFD. That's Pastor Berzins.
So keep Pastor Berzins in your prayers and his church and then also Brother Edward with his health, his situation with his feet, praying for them.
But if you do have any prayer requests you want added to this, email that into the church at purewordsbaptist@gmail.com
and we can help each other out with whatever prayer you might need.
But that is the announcements for the evening. We'll go ahead and pull our hymnals back out.
We'll have Brother Brandon come lead us in our third song.
Number 39, "How Beautiful Heaven Is"
Jude chapter, the book of Jude.
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 ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
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, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,
ye 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,
durst not bring against him a rallying accusation, but stead 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 Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of poor.
These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds they are without water, caring about of winds, trees whose fruit withered without fruit.
Twice dead, plucked 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 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 speak of great swelling words, having men's 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 of some have compassion, making a difference, and others, save 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, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Man, all right, 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, all right, so welcome to Jude chapter Jude.
And the title of my sermon this evening is "Characteristics of a False Prophet."
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 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."
Let's go ahead and skip down to verse number eight. 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, 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, for they have gone in the way of Cain,
and ran greedily after the error 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, "And 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? This is 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 is 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.
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.
Let's start reading in verse number 7. 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, and 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, right?
His offering is salvation by Jesus Christ, salvation by the sacrifice of the shed blood of the Lamb.
That's the good doctrine, right? But let's see what Cain's doctrine is.
Let's go to Genesis chapter number three really quickly. Back here.
I'm sorry, Genesis chapter number four, back to Genesis chapter four. Let's start reading in verse three.
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 produce. 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 a 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 accursed. 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, in 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've got to clean up your life to be saved.
You've got to start going to church to be saved. You've got to quit drinking to be saved. You've got to repent of all your sins to be saved."
No, that's Cain'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, okay?
And it's by the doctrine that they preach. Go to Matthew chapter number seven.
Matthew chapter number seven.
Matthew chapter number seven. 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, right?
It's the broad way that leads to destruction.
Verse 14. "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?
Even so, 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, passed into the fire.
Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
So a really important question is, what are their fruits? Right?
He's saying this is the way that you for sure can identify a false prophet.
Beware of false prophets. Ye shall know them by their fruits.
What are their fruits? Well, out-soul winning over the years,
especially in Vancouver, Washington, there's a heavy Russian population there.
And always, always, always preaching them the gospel, this is what they say.
Well, 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.
If they have good fruit, if they have good works, well then you must know that they're saved.
Well look, 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, okay?
Think about Romans 4 or 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 chapter 7 saying, "Beware of 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 know, 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 know, "You shall know them by their fruits."
Now he's going to explain that. He's going to elaborate what that means.
He's still talking about the same thing. Verse 21.
"Not every one that," and then pay attention to this word,
"sayeth 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 every one 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?
Unsaved, okay? 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? No.
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, Jesus said He'll profess on them that He never knew them
and to depart from them, from Him. 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?
They're fruits. That's why 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.
Look at, I'll read for you 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 3, it says this,
so before I read you this verse, will people say,
"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, it says,
"And 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 you think is unsaved right now.
Why is it that you think that person is unsaved?
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 unsaved.
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 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 said, "My feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
I am here to preach the gospel to you."
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 cold number 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, he just preached. 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, okay?
There are 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,
"Is the tree good and is the fruit good?" or "Is the tree corrupt and is the 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. "O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 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 are false profit
by the fruits that we saw come out of their mouth.
Look at verse 35, a good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things.
And an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things.
But I say unto you that every idol, what word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment.
For by thy words, thou shall 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
and 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 three.
Matthew chapter number three, it's proved this further.
Story about John the Baptist, verse four,
it says, "And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair
"and the leather and girdle about his loins,
"and his meat was locusts 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 gotta be a good person,
you gotta 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.
There'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 works,
or by their words, sorry,
and people are damned by their words, not their words.
All right, someone's gonna make a clip of that.
You know, Dylan preaching false doctrine.
Romans 10, nine, 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 could 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 gonna talk about Balaam.
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 went in the way of Cain.
We get a lot more of a clue when it comes to Balaam
'cause 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 chapter number 22,
Numbers 22, and we'll get the story of Balaam.
Story of Balaam spreads out throughout several chapters.
So we won't read the whole thing,
but just to 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's 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.
So 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 five.
So Balak is going to try to hire Balaam here.
It says, "He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam,
the son of Beor, to Pithor,
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, he's 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,
just says there's this random group of people.
Verse six, "Come now therefore,
I pray thee, 'Purse 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 just this group of people
that I want you to curse."
And he sends his servants and they're bringing him what?
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?
False prophet, that's the type of person
that would do something so wicked
that would just preach any lie,
preach and twist the Bible as much as they can
as long as they get the rewards of divination.
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 Cain.
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 two, verse one.
Actually, let's go ahead and turn there.
2 Peter chapter two, 2 Peter chapter two says in verse one,
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 what, that's point one.
That's talking about Cain, right?
The damnable heresies.
Verse two, 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 gonna fall for this.
Many people are gonna follow these pernicious ways,
which means harmful ways.
They're hurting people with their false preaching.
Verse three, 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, right?
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 feinted 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.
You know, anyone that's just a normal, good-hearted person,
you know, 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've 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 five.
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?
No, 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 wanna 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, $20 million.
Kenneth Copeland, $760 million in Fort Worth, Texas.
Has his own, you know, air landing strip.
He's got a huge, you know, building or whatever.
I've actually ran into people out soul winning
that go to his ministry or whatever you wanna call
that thing, it's not a church.
$760 million is what he's worth.
Benny Hinn, $42 million.
Joel Osteen, $40 million.
Preflo Dollar, I mean, when your last name's Dollar,
you know you're a false prophet.
$27 million.
Rick Warren, $25 million.
Billy Graham, who is currently roasting in hell,
$25 million.
Joyce Meyer, $8 million.
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?
What a joke.
Disgusting.
But Joyce Meyer's 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 tickle 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,
"Broad 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.
Titus 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, okay?
You know, 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, okay?
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
and not 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 member's 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 chapter 34. Ezekiel 34 verse 1 says this,
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 'Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.
Prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves.
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?'"
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, "Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe ye with the wool;
ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock."
The Bible describes this people, 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 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, right?
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 ye 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, you know, 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.
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 going to happen? A wolf's going to 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 going and getting devoured by Satan,
getting devoured by this world, by the lies that they teach.
Verse six, "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, oh 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, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth.
They may not be meat for them.
Someday, 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 someday, 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. You 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. Go back to Jude. Jude. Chapter Jude. We learn 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. Better get there myself. In Jude, chapter one, let's look at really quickly at verse 11.
It says this, "Woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Korah."
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.
Now, I'll read for you the dictionary definition of gainsay. It says this, "To deny, dispute, or contradict, to speak against or oppose."
Some synonyms to this could be "pro-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."
It's 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." You know, "Oh, I hear Pastor Shelley preach that, but I'm cool. I have a new doctrine." Right?
And it's not just like about one or two things. It's like a person that's pro-word, they're just contrary into everything.
They're just rebellious. They just despise authority in all its forms.
It's not like they just disagree on a couple things. It's like they're just a rebellious, gainsaying, pro-word person in general.
That's what Korah was like. Now Korah is best known for what? For leading a rebellion, right?
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 number 16.
Number 16, start reading in verse number one, 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 On, the son of Pilah, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty 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,"
it 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's authority.
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 mouths speak
of great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration 'cause 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, no, 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 and admiration because of advantage, and he uses
them to gather them unto himself.
Now let's keep reading in verse number 3, it says this, "And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon
you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.
Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord."
So now we see the contrarian, throw-word, rebellious mouth now coming out of Korah.
Now we see his gainsaying, right?
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 us false accusations.
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 Korah
who's gonna 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 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 foward 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 eight.
Verse eight, it says this.
"And Moses said unto Korah, '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 throw-word, 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 has been given real authority
by God, and when you're speaking that way of any pastor, you're actually speaking against
God.
This is 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.
That's not how you talk.
You don't say, "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.
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 ye 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. 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 pro-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, okay?
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 appertained 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 a sunder 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." See, 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, the pastor's 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 going to 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 out, 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, you're not sure about,
you don't know for sure if they're a false prophet, they could just have some real big
heart 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." And 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. Quorum was a false prophet. Dathan
and Abiram, false prophets. And what is their characteristic? Rebellion. Being a gainsayer.
Being pro-work. 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
sake of time. Let's just run some verses and psalms and proverbs about prowordness. And
we'll close with that, but let's go to Psalm 101. Psalm 101. I just want to show you really
quickly what the Bible says about being proword. 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 proword. What does the Bible say about someone that's
proword? Let's just run through some verses here and then we'll close it out. Psalm 101
4 says this, "A proword heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person."
So the Bible interchanges a person that's proword as a person that's wicked. And the
Bible says, "I won't even know someone that's wicked like this, someone that's proword,
someone that's just rebellious, someone that's just contrarian against everything." There's
anything the pastor preaches, "Oh, that's wrong. I know better." Now, I won't even
know a person like proword, wicked, rebellious person like that. Go to Proverbs chapter number
three. Proverbs chapter number three. Let's look at verse 30. It says, "Strive not with
a man without cause, if he hath done thee no harm." Hey Cora, hey Dathan, hey Ibaram,
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 Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram, God looks at them and says, "You're an abomination to me. You can't be controlled.
You can't submit yourself to any authority. You despise government. You despise mom and
dad's rules. Women that despise their husbands' authority. Workers that just despise bosses."
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.
It should be the next page, Proverbs chapter number 6, look at verse 12. "A naughty 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 when we talked about people that literally just sit in their
bed at night just thinking ways to hurt people? 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 seweth discord. You ever see someone in the
church that starts going around sewing discord? Don't just like not believe
the Bible and be like, "Ah, but you know 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 if someone that
wants to go around and sew 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?
Cain. What does he characterize 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 know, you better also watch out because
he's a predator most likely too, right? Number three, we talked about Korah. He's
rebellious, he's 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, "Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock also of your own selves, 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 wolf. And I want us to think
about this because if you look at the last year of, you know, Pure Words Baptist
Church and Steadfast Baptist Church, our battles have been mostly with the world,
right? It's been the protesters, it's been the sodomites, it's been God-hating
landlords, it's been all sorts of crazy stuff, right? 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 someday. 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 someday
that that happens to this church. And look, I'm not saying that everyone should
just have a reprobate button and someone walks in 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. 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 you know 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 second Peter chapter 2
and Jude it gives you much more descriptors of what a false prophets 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 that will know them by
their fruits or I pray that we just pay very close attention to the things that
people say without soul winning and behind the pulpit and we wouldn't just
be deceived by a false prophet I pray that you please protect your words
Baptist Church do not allow people to come in here and just turn people's
hearts away from the Word of God pray that every single person in here be very
vigilant to be on the watch for these type of things help us just to continue
reading our Bibles and giving us more wisdom we love you so much in Jesus name
we pray amen