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