(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music This time we're going to go through our announcements. If you do not have a bulletin like myself, just raise your hand up real high. We'll make sure that we get one to you. Thank you, sir. Keep your hand raised if anyone needs one until one of the ushers will find you and get a bulletin to you. If you open up to the first page, you will see our service times listed here Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. We've got the soul-winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and the baptisms per month of January as well as for the year. Let's go ahead and count up if there's any salvations to report that have not been reported to date. Yes, sir. One yesterday. Anyone else have anything to report? All right. Very good. Down there at the bottom of the page, we've got the offering totals through the month of January. Prayer requests. So we did get an update to the WhatsApp group on Maverick who's doing much better. Let's see if I can find that update. He's home, which is awesome. That's a great sign for him to be home. And they're waiting for an appointment with the neurosurgeon. So do we know anything else? That's all the information? Obviously, though, he's not in critical condition if he's at home. So, I mean, he can't be, right? If they released him and they're not holding him in the hospital, that's a really good sign. So that's excellent. But continue to pray for him. And we'll pass on the information as we get it. Today, Andy Shafer is having that heart surgery. So I'm not sure at what time he was having that surgery. But this is Brother Will Crane's friend. And maybe he could answer. Will, do you know what time that surgery was scheduled for? Was it this morning? It's been rescheduled for next week. Next week. I'm not exactly sure what time. Okay. Is it one week from today? No, it's next week. Or Monday. A week from tomorrow? No, no. It's Monday through Friday. I'm not sure. Oh, I see. It's at some point next week? Yes. Okay. Okay. Well, that's just continue to pray for him. Did you get a chance to speak with him? I haven't. You haven't. All right. We're going to pray for his salvation as well as obviously getting through this heart surgery. It's a big deal. Please continue to pray for him. Pray that God will work on his heart. Pray that God will open up an opportunity for him to hear the Gospel very clearly, concisely, and be able to put his faith in Jesus. And, of course, just for his health and well-being. Continue to pray for everyone else that is on our list. I've been looking out for my neighbor. I haven't had a chance to see him in a while to get an update on Henry, that that's a two-year-old that has cancer. Does anyone else have any updates on anyone who's on the prayer list? All right. Well, let's continue on here to the next page. January. Of course, we're in the begun the month of January. It's been just over a week of, well, one complete week of the Bible reading challenge. So we're trying to complete the entire New Testament in this month. Who thinks they're going to get this done? Amen. Ah, very good. Very good. It's not that bad. Just try not to get behind. If you follow our schedule of doing nine chapters per day, you still have two buffer days in case things don't go quite as planned. If you miss not getting nine chapters done, it's not an issue. It's not a problem. You can still continue to move forward and get the goal accomplished. Preaching at Shure Foundation Baptist Church. I will be preaching one week from today. So next Sunday, I will be there preaching in their services. And you will have some homegrown preachers here that will be preaching for you. And be sure to be here to support them and to support the church. Be here for both services, please, and hear what God has been laying on their hearts to and open up their understanding with as they expound Scripture next week. All right. The Bible memory passage is Hebrews chapter 6. So we're more than, should be more than halfway through with this. And we've got 11 weeks total to memorize the entire chapter. If you can do that, accomplish that, you'll earn a prize by being able to quote that passage word perfect out loud to somebody else who will check your work. We've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries listed down there at the bottom of the page. All right. Now, we're going to move to the back of the bulletin. Before we get there, I'm just going to cover some other things that aren't in the bulletin. So one of the things that's not in the bulletin is the construction. You say, passive versions, what is going on with the construction, and say, yes, I don't know. I just got off the phone this morning with the contractor because I don't know how you felt when you came in, but I was pretty angry. So things weren't done that were supposed to have been done, and now I'm getting promises that they'll be done tomorrow. And they're going to throw in the painting of everything since I said that we were preparing to paint today before we got the new carpet installed tomorrow. And they said that they will have a professional paint team in here that will ensure that nothing is going to get on the new carpeting, and they are going to do that at no charge to us. So that is the way they're going to make this right. I fully anticipate that everything will be done this week. Things have gotten too far out of control for my liking in the getting things done category. So unfortunately now I will be on this like white on rice every day this week, making sure that this project finishes. And again, I mean we're thankful that we have these opportunities. We're thankful that we're growing and expanding, but this project really needs to come to a close. So that is the latest information. We are scheduled for the new carpet tomorrow. We do have a dumpster out back here. We do not use that for anything. That's intended for all of the carpet debris to fill up. It's not a huge dumpster, so just bring garbage back to the regular dumpster. We'll use that, and then let's see. That's it for all of the building stuff. We're still getting things situated. You know, if you have some ideas, it's great. We're going to be putting in some cabinets and countertops in this room, but we're still kind of figuring out the configuration, how that's going to work. The coffee station is in flux right now. It's not going to stay exactly the way it is. We were trying to move and separate some of the electricity, things that require electricity off of the one circuit, and it kind of made more sense to put that back in that direction since that's our main entrance for the church now. But just bear with us. We're still trying to get everything done and done right. Now, one thing we will need to do after service tonight for anyone who's willing to stick around is, because we're getting the carpeting done, everything needs to be off of the floor in that room that has blue carpeting. So that whole room, all the chairs, all the doors, all the stuff that we have laying around back there, the bookshelves, everything needs to be moved off of the carpet so that the guys that come in when they do the demo and everything, they won't have to do any of that work themselves. This keeps us from getting charged for them having to do that labor. So it will be fine for us to move some of that stuff just into this area because they're not touching this room. So most of that stuff will just pull forward. Some of the stuff we can put back in that other storage area. But this is planned and expected to be done by our church service on Wednesday. So they're going to come in on Monday, do the demo, start installing, and everything should be installed as far as the carpeting is concerned by Wednesday. And Lord willing, everything will be done by Wednesday. But we'll see about that. All right. On the back now, let's look at these upcoming events because the homeschool field trip, there's actually way more detail than this one in particular than any other homeschool field trip I think we've ever had in our existence. So the multiple things, Leslie just informed me this morning. Number one, homeschool field trip, I can't stress this enough, okay? The entrance time is 10 a.m. You must be there before 10 a.m. because they let us in at 10 a.m. If you are not there to enter at 10 a.m., you will lose your ticket. They do not do refunds and you won't be able to gain entrance with the group. You'll have to pay for your own way to get into the aquarium all on your own. Nobody's coming back outside to get you. It doesn't work that way. So please make sure you're at the group entrance by 10 a.m. Now, Leslie also tried over and over and over again. I mean, she's called multiple people, tried to get this thing figured out. It's been a big headache. We were unable to purchase parking passes in advance, okay? So if that's an issue, please let us know. I don't know exactly how I'm going to deal with that right now. Normally everything is just 100% completely free of charge. This time I'm thinking it's just going to have to be, you're going to have to cover your own parking wherever you choose to park for this event. I don't know how else to deal with that. We can't all meet up at some parking garage and then pay for everything all at once. It's just not going to simply work that way. So I apologize for that. We tried our best to get 100% everything paid for, but that's not the case. So expect to pay for parking. Also, people who have larger vehicles like ours, like some other people in other families here, they have the real tall vehicles. You probably won't be able to park in the main parking at the aquarium because it's a parking garage that has a low ceiling. So there are other places to park offsite, but just keep that in mind as well when you're thinking about what time you need to be there. Also, there are other activities. If you want to attend one of the shows, what is the show? The dolphin and or sea lion shows. You have to register at the time of entrance. Is that right? When you get there, when we're ready to go in, you're going to have to register on your phones. Is that right? So everyone's going to have to register on your phone, and it's free. It's included in the cost of your ticket that we already bought for you, but it is required that you register in order for them to have seating for you. Now, that is optional. You can do whatever you want ultimately at the homeschool field trip, but if you want to attend one of those shows, just make sure that you sign up for it on the day of the field trip, when you're there, after you've got your ticket, when you are going into the aquarium or whatever. So has that covered everything, Leslie? Did I miss something? Oh, lunch, lunch. Okay, yes, there are a couple other things. They do not allow food or drink to be brought into the aquarium. We are also not supplying lunch for you for this event. So I recommend if you want to bring your own food, leave it in your vehicle. You're all allowed to go in and out of the aquarium at your leisure. You could go back and forth. That's not a problem. So if you want to go back to your car and get some food and then go back in, no problem whatsoever. There are also other restaurants around the park, I think in the aquarium as well. If you choose to do that, that is totally up to you as well. But the food feeding yourself is going to be left up to you for this event. And then one more thing is that they also will be searching you. So there's no weapons, no mace, no food and drink. So please keep your, I guess, knives and guns stowed away before you try to get into the aquarium just for your own sake of dealing with all of that. Did you say something about clear bags too or no? No, that was a different event. That's a different event. Okay. Just want to make sure. So do we know what level of search is going to be? Is it a metal detector or something? I think they said there's metal detectors and they search bags. Metal detectors and searching bags. So it's not like a pat down or something. It's not the TSA yet completely, but we're kind of getting there. So that's what to expect. Just want to make sure everyone's fully aware. You know what's going on. If you still have any more questions, talk to Leslie. She has become an expert in this matter in a short period of time. So just let her know. I think once all of that stuff is settled, you guys will have a great time. There is a really cool aquarium. There's one more thing, something else I forgot. No, I didn't mention this. We are no longer meeting the homeschool intent form. Okay. Yeah, we got at different rates. Our group is too big to do their homeschool event. It's just not approved. Okay. That's good to know too. So the one good thing is you do not need to bring your letter of intent for homeschooling to this event because we're not a homeschool group. We're not a homeschool group apparently. We're too big so we have a group rate. So we got a group package, group rate, whatever for the tickets for this event. So that is what's going on. If you did not RSVP to this, it's too late. Okay. The entrance is closed. The window for being able to attend this event has closed. But it should be a lot of fun. It doesn't sound like it maybe but it is a really cool aquarium. For those of you who have been there before, it's a lot of fun. So just talk to my wife if you have any other questions on that. So let's see. Scheduled soul winning marathon. There's a soul winning marathon in Savannah that is being put on by other churches, not ours. We were invited to participate. So if I could, is there anyone here just by show of hands is planning on attending this event? It doesn't mean you have to commit 100% but we want to get a good idea of who may be attending this event. All right. Will your whole family be going, Brother Jesse? How about your family, Mrs. Taylor? Would everyone be going or just? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Very good. I appreciate that. I'm just going to give a heads up to Brother Robert on what to expect because they're planning on feeding you with lunch. So breakfast and dinner is not included in their soul winning marathon but they are going to feed you lunch. It starts at I believe 10 a.m. is their soul winning time. I will provide all the details in the bulletin next week or if you want an email or something else, you want something printed out with more of the details on it, I have those, the location and everything else. I could provide that to you but it will definitely be in next week's bulletin and then of course if anyone else wants to attend or you change your mind or you think, you know what, I do want to attend that, just let me know so I can communicate. This isn't the last day to respond to this or anything but just let me know so I can communicate this with Brother Robert Gray and inform him of what the plans are, what the updated numbers are but this is a great start for that. Let's see, February 10th, I don't even want to go into any more homeschool field trip news but there's one at the Telescience Museum on February 10th. Make sure you're signing up for any of these events you plan on attending. We have our next soul winning marathon scheduled for February 11th which is a Saturday. That one's going to be local. I don't have the exact location yet but that will be relatively close to the church building so we won't be traveling great distances to go to this event. Maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour away, something to that effect. I'm not certain exactly where but it will be relatively close to the Atlanta area so that will be on February 11th, March 7th and 8th. There's that youth rally at Verity Baptist Church. You can see the poster that's up in the back room over there for more details on that and then I posted our camping trip dates for the camp this year so May 1st through the 6th and I will be going through more on that actually soon. I want to try to get some RSVPs for that. That's an entire week of camping. We rent out the campsite, we rent out cottages, we rent out campsites. It's a lot of fun. There should be a lot of preachers there. I need to get the actual list of who all is going to attend. I don't have that yet of the confirmed preachers but we invite pretty much everybody to come out and preach and of everybody some people come and preach for us. So I already know that there's multiple people who have said that yes, they plan on coming. I just need to get a little bit more confirmed, firmed up on that. So I think that is it for the announcements. Yes, sir? Do you want to introduce me to you? Yes, I do. Thank you. One more announcement. Thank you, Brother Devin. As you've noticed, we have acquired a new piano here, a beautiful baby grand piano. It's very nice, sounds great. It was just tuned. And as a result, we have another piano right here that we are going to be parting with because we don't need dueling pianos in our church service. I think one piano is sufficient for the sound to travel through the building. The problem is this belongs to the church. This belongs to all of us. This belongs to you and me. This belongs to all of us. What I would like to see happen is that this church can find a home within our church of someone who wants to learn or practice or do some type of, you know, ambition of doing some church music here on a piano. If you have room for it, if you'd like to have it, please talk to me. Depending on who's interested, and I don't mean like who specifically, but how many people are interested in this, if you want to have this at home, we'll have to figure out a fair way of dealing with this instrument. We are not getting rid of this or giving this away for someone to sell it, okay? So as you understand that, this isn't just like, oh yeah, give it to me and then you turn around and sell it. We get to provide some training, some help to be able to just use a piano. It's free. You don't have to pay anything for it. But that is the purpose. So anyone who is interested in acquiring this, please speak to me after the service. I'm going to announce this a few times and make sure everybody has an opportunity to be aware of this and then we'll go forward making a decision on where it's going to go. If nobody is interested in this, if it's not going to find a home with anyone in our church, and we will either give it away or sell it or do something with it, that's not a problem. But I wanted to be able to use it here internally first if someone can use that. So that is what's happening with this piano. And I think that's it for the announcements. So appreciate that. And with that, I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter who can lead us in our next song. All right, church, if you can open up your handrails. The song is a 198. Song 198, Julian speaking. Song 198. The first I have found His grace is all complete. He's supplying every need. All I see and learn at Jesus' feet I am free, yes, free indeed. His joy is speakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. His joy is speakable and full of glory for the half has never yet been told. I have found the pleasure I once create in His joy and peace within. What a wondrous blessing I have seen from the awful wolf of sin. His joy is speakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. His joy is speakable and full of glory for the half has never yet been told. I have found that love so bright and clear living in the realm of grace. All the Savior's presence is so near I can see His smiling face. His joy is speakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. His joy is speakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. The half has never yet been told. On the last I have found the joy no tongue gives out, how His ways of glory grow. It is like a great or glory flood, straining up within my soul. His joy is speakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. His joy is speakable and full of glory for the half has never yet been told. You can open up your bibles to the book of 2 Peter chapter 2. That is 2 Peter chapter 2. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall fall their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 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. For if God spared not the angels that sin, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly, and deliver just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day, with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord, but these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are in blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with covetous practices. Cursed children, which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with the tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is returned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Let's pray. Brother Kevin, Dodie, can you pray for us? Heavenly Father, we thank you for our opportunity to be here today. We thank you for your Word in this chapter. We ask that you fill fast the presence of your Spirit and give us all ears to hear and minimize distractions. Amen. All right, now before I actually start the sermon, Brother Brian was helpful enough to inform me that there is a way, it looks like, to be able to purchase those parking tickets for the homeschool field trip coming up in advance. So we're going to look into that, and we'll let you know if we're able to get that done for you. Obviously it would be a big help, so we're going to do as much as we can to get that taken care of for you. But we'll let you know 100% for sure if we're able to accomplish that after the service today. So that would be very helpful. Then the only obstacle would be the families who have larger vehicles. If that's all we have to deal with, that's actually much more manageable than dealing with everybody, right? So we'll see. I'll keep you up to date on that, especially later this evening. If you come back to service, I'll have more details on what we're going to do then. All right, now this morning I'm going to be preaching a sermon that's kind of a follow-up sermon in a way. I just preached recently on false prophets. I just preached on kind of their characteristics, and we're going to cover and review some of those characteristics of the false prophet. I actually have lots of pages of notes, but don't get too scared. Most of you are going to be reading through them. I'm not going to be expounding a whole lot through all of them. But one of the things I think is very important to understand, and especially when we look at the Scripture, the Bible is giving us information, but we need to be able to discern what we're reading, why it's being given to us, why we have this information. I think one of the big reasons we get information about false prophets or reprobates is because a lot of people, if you're not one, sometimes it's hard to believe that there's even people out there that are intentionally trying to hurt people that are actual wolves in their heart that want to destroy. They want to do bad things. So our own maybe naivety would think that who in the world would want to possibly be like that. We have a hard time even thinking that that could be the case. But the Bible lets us know, no, there's people out there, and we got plenty of warnings about it. I think it's one of the reasons why we get there, just so that we could be aware of that. However, I think it's also important that we don't, especially with the reprobate doctrine, and we understand why, yes, 100% the Bible teaches, without doubt, there are people who have gone beyond the point of salvation. There are people who, for example, blaspheme the Holy Ghost that there is no more hope of salvation for. They don't have until the day that they die to call the name of the Lord and be saved because their heart has been hardened, and God has made it so they will not put their faith in Jesus Christ. I'm not going to teach just completely about the reprobate doctrine, but we understand, we believe that here. Most of you, if not all of you, have heard that preached here before and hopefully have a good understanding of that. But what we want to be able to do is be able to differentiate between who is and who isn't a reprobate, who is and who isn't. Now, the title of my sermon is The Reprobate False Prophet. When we look at the false prophet in Scripture, we're going to see it's always talking about these people who are reprobates, and that's kind of the title. There's a title of a false prophet. Someone's called or labeled a false prophet. Then that is who they are. But if you start thinking about it, you say, well, how am I going to know who is a false prophet? We're going to review a lot of these characteristics. But you might logically just think, well, what if someone just teaches something that's false? Someone teaches something that's wrong, and they're a prophet. Does that make them a false prophet? Like, no. And we're going to use Biblical terminology here. The false prophet is someone who is a bad person. And there's lots of things to consider when we think about this. Say, well, what about someone who preaches a false gospel? Are they a false prophet? How bad does their doctrine have to be? How bad are these things? We want to be able to use the Biblical terminology, use the Biblical examples, look to the Bible to see, well, what are the characteristics that the Bible says is a false prophet? And be able to apply that. And here's the reason why I'm even dealing with this or going into it, is because once you label someone as a reprobate, then there's no point in trying to even give that person the gospel. There's no point to it, because why would you if they can't be saved? So we want to be very extremely careful on who we're going to label as being a reprobate. We want to be sure in our minds that this person really is beyond any hope of salvation. And we would always want to err on the side of caution and being able to give the benefit of the doubt on whether or not someone may or not be a reprobate just for the sheer fact of, hey, we are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, and if someone has a chance of salvation, we want them to have that chance of salvation without withholding the gospel from that person just because we think they may be a reprobate. And one of the hard things about determining a reprobate is, on the one hand, it is something that is going to be in their heart something that's more internal. There are some things that are externalized that I believe we can automatically say, okay, absolutely, we can peg people and say, yes, this person is a reprobate, this person is a false prophet, a reprobate false prophet given the things to look for in Scripture. But that's why I want to go through this so we have a real clear understanding. Now, it's part of the reasoning, but I don't think I covered this point very clearly the last time I went through this. We want to be able to identify the false prophet because, again, there's a difference between someone who's wrong in their doctrine, who's teaching something that they sincerely believe to be true, they think they're doing the right thing, they think they're being helpful, they think they're being a good teacher, but they're wrong. There's a difference between that person and the person who's going, I'm going to deceive these people, I don't care about them at all, I want their money, or I have some other agenda that I want to push, and whatever comes out of my mouth, it really doesn't even matter because I'm working towards my own end. And that speaks more to the reprobate false prophet than the other. Now, let's dig into 2 Peter 1 and review some of these attributes of a false prophet because the Bible is telling us what to look out for. The Bible gives us the criteria. The Bible's showing us, hey, this is what these people do. There's a lot of elements of secrecy that you're going to find in these elements because they're trying not to let people know what they really believe. Okay, so I think a good indicator, we have someone who's very forward about what they believe, that's unsaved, that teaches something false, you might not be thinking that that person's necessarily a reprobate if they're just forthcoming with everything. Because look what the Bible says here in verse number 1. The Bible says, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So these people, they're privately, privately bringing in these damnable heresies. They're bringing them in to corrupt. They're bringing them in to influence other people who are saved and try to corrupt people, try to corrupt the church. They're doing it secretly. They're trying to bring it in under the radar. Right? And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. They're out to cause damage. Verse 3. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. This is another element or attribute of the false prophets. They're covetous. Many of them, they just want to make merchandise of people. They care about the money, they care about the money coming in, them getting paid, not about the well-being of you at all. Now they're going to say things in order to achieve that end, whatever they think you want to hear. Because they just want to make merchandise of you. They don't actually care. There's no sincerity there other than for themself. Okay? And when you think about this also, you know, the reprobate, according to the Bible, is someone who is past feeling. It's someone whose conscience has been seared with a hot iron. This is why they're capable of just doing all these things and just not caring at all. And modern day science will call these people psychopaths or sociopaths, right? But they display the attributes of the reprobate from the Bible. People who are able to do just about anything because God has given their minds over to this reprobate mind. That they're just able to do whatever. And they don't care. They have no empathy for other people. They're able to just hurt them and it means nothing to them. Okay? And one of the categories of reprobate is a false prophet. Now the Bible says right here, let's keep reading. We read through, most of this is going to jump down to verse 10. I just want to highlight some of these things and not spend too much time on it. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government. Presumptuous are they. Self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. More attributes. They walk in the flesh. They despise government. They don't like being ruled over. And they're presumptuous and self-willed. And then it says in verse 12, but these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. They're like dumb animals. It's the way that the Bible describes these people. They're made to be taken and destroyed. These are people that are not, oh we just need to explain it to them the right way. No, they're already just beyond that point. They don't understand it and they're not going to understand it. I have another reference, say in 2 Peter chapter 2. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, we'll actually turn there in a little bit. They're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They're not able to. It's not possible. They're not capable of doing it when God has already given them over a reprobate mind and their heart is already darkened. Now, if we keep reading here we'll get a few more characteristics of these guys. Verse 13, and shall receive the war of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. And this is another theme, at least in 2 Peter 2 and in Jude, that these people are feasting with you. Like they're hanging out with the church. They're hanging out with the people of God. They're infiltrating their false brethren. They creep in unawares. They're privily bringing their damn little heresies. And they're trying to corrupt the actual true church of God. They're trying to corrupt people who are serving the Lord. This is part of who they are. They're going to try to draw away disciples after themselves but draw them away from those who are worshiping God in truth. Verse 14, the Bible says having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. This shows their state, their condition of just being utterly depraved because they just cannot stop sinning. Their eyes are full of adultery. They cannot cease from sin. Beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children. So there again we see the covetousness. They're just cursed. Verse 15, which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor. Now that forsaken the right way is also important because in order to forsake the right way, they knew about the right way. But they forsook it. They didn't want anything to do with it. They're gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Again, wages of unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money comes up over and over and over again. Verse 18, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh. That's what they know, the flesh. And they try to allure through that in their teachings. It says through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who lived in error. And on and on. Turn if you would to the book of Jude. We're going to see a few more characteristics because this is how we identify the false prophet. This is what we're looking to. This is what the Bible says that these people are all about. This is how we identify them. Jude, verse number 3, the Bible 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. But 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 in our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, they're coming in privately. They're creeping in. They're not being forthcoming with what they believe or what they're trying to teach. But they're already ordained to this condemnation. They're reprobate. They're already just damned. Okay, these people are no good. They're ungodly men turning grace of God into lasciviousness. Jump down to verse number 8. The Bible says, Likewise, also, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Exactly what we saw in Second Peter, chapter 2. Jump down to verse number 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts. And those things, they corrupt themselves. They know the natural things. They know the sinful things, the things of the flesh. They know those things very well because they're brute beasts and that's what they corrupt themselves with. Verse 11, Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, perishing again, saying of Corey, These are spots in your feasts of charity. When they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. So, multiple times we're seeing that a lot of these people are going to be trying to creep in and get among the group. Now, these are all things to look out for. Obviously a false prophet can exist that doesn't creep into, say, like our church, but is somewhere else. I'm not saying that's the only thing, and it has to have every single thing that's mentioned here, but these are given as a way to identify. As a way to help us to know, and obviously it's of much more importance when you have a false prophet within the church, as opposed to someone outside of the church, because this is our influence. This is what we're doing here. Obviously false prophets can have influence on other people and other dealings and other things, and you know what? Their mouths ought to be stopped and we ought to preach against that and identify them still. There's still importance to that, but the most important is making sure that the wolf isn't creeping into this sheepfold, as it were. So we're looking out for these things. It brings up whose trees whose fruit withereth. We'll get to that in just a minute. That's what Jesus said on how to identify a false prophet, is by their fruit you shall know them. It says here they're without fruit. They're twice dead. They already are twice dead. Just like we are alive and have everlasting life, we are alive. God's not the God of the dead, but God of living. If you're saved, you're born again, you have eternal life. You would never be considered dead. Even when your body passes away, you continue on because you have eternal life. You are still alive. But these people are twice dead, which while they may be walking around physically in a human body, there's no hope for them because their end is the second death. That's ultimately where they're going and it's already been sealed. Their fate is sealed. Twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering sides of humans, reserved the blackness of darkness forever. All right, let's continue on from here. There's a lot to cover. Turn to 2 Timothy. You know what, I already covered that. I'm going to skip past that too. Let's go to Matthew 7 now. Sorry, I've got 10 pages of notes. I'm trying to get through this as quick as possible. There's a lot to do, but I want to get our minds right, get our minds set on, first of all, just biblical concepts. It's easy with some of these things to stray away from the Bible and start coming up with too much maybe of our own understanding and things. So I want to reset and be like, okay, we're looking at the places where the Bible is teaching about false prophets specifically. Now, there are a subset of reprobates in general, because not every reprobate is a false prophet, but every false prophet is a reprobate according to the Bible's definition of a false prophet, according to what we're seeing in Jude and in 2 Peter 2. Like I said before, someone may teach something that's false and be a prophet, but that doesn't equal false prophet, not according to what we're looking at here in Scripture. A false prophet is a specific person in the Bible. It is someone who is a reprobate. It is someone who's a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is someone who is who is privily creeping in and trying to do bad things. This is what we're seeing from the context in 2 Peter 2 and in Jude so far. And then when Jesus is warning about false prophets as well, Matthew 7 verse 15, the Bible reads, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 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 and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. So the bad fruit of the false prophet is how you're going to know if they're a false prophet or not. You have to look at their fruit. Now the fruit is the reproduction. And when people get to the point where they start making converts, you are reproducing. When you're converting people to your side, that's when you're starting to reproduce. Now not everybody, obviously, who is unsaved is a false prophet. Many people who are unsaved are caught up in false religions. But even of those people, you know, you can't just say that they're all false prophets. And we have to go with what the scripture is saying here, how to identify them. And this is a good way of identifying the fruit. So keep that in mind. We're going to keep on going because we're going to look at everything. Luke 6, 26. Turn if you would to Acts chapter 13 because we're going to get to an example here in a minute. This is going to be very important to cover the point that I want to make here. Luke 6, 26 says, Well unto you and all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. So because they're wolves in sheep's clothing, they're able to deceive a lot of people into thinking that they're righteous, that they're good people, and people love, ironically enough, the false prophet. They're loved by the world. But it's because they're not of the father. The things of the world are not of the father. And since they speak of the world, all men will speak well of them. They also know how to play people. And, you know, they have men's persons in admiration, the Bible says, because of advantage. And they know how to butter people up. They know how to use flattery. They know how to use all these different tools to get people to like them. They know how to be popular. Right. And I mean, that even goes for the, you know, you hear about these psychopaths and read about themself. They're all like these very personable people like them. They're real charismatic as far as like people being able to, oh yeah, I know that guy. And they kind of have these positive experiences with these psychopaths because they learn how to manipulate people. And that's just another key to, another red flag, I guess you could say, another indication, another warning sign of what to look for. But we know that no false prophet, according to Jesus' teaching, can bring forth good fruit. It's impossible for them to get someone saved and vice versa. You're not going to bring forth a child of the devil of some, you know, if you're saved. That just, that doesn't work that way. And the Bible says, when talking about the Pharisees, it says you can pass sea of land to make one proselyte. And when you do, you make them twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. So, the proselytizing and those things that happen, it's an important element, okay? It is an important element of identifying the false prophet. But we also need to, I would say, conjoin that with the teachings in 2 Peter chapter 2 as well as in Jude to get the full picture of who these people are. And even when Jesus warned in Matthew 7, He says, look, they're inwardly the ravening wolves. These people are wolves, okay? And in order to find the wolf, you know, there's no way they're going to bring forth good fruit. So, if someone's got some good fruit, then they're not a wolf, right? Now, in Acts chapter 13, we're going to see an actual example of a person who is a reprobate false prophet. Okay, look at verse number 6. The Bible says, and when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet. So, there's no question about this. Is this a false prophet? Yes, it is. Okay, because the Bible literally gives us that this person is a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. So, this false prophet, this Bar-Jesus, is with this other guy, this ruler, this deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus. And Sergius Paulus is going, you know what? I want to hear the word of God. I want to hear from Paulus. I want to hear what they have to say. He hears about him and says, you know what? I want to hear that word of God. It says, but Elamis the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation. So, Bar-Jesus, Elamis, the guy goes, it's the same person. Withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. So, what's he doing? He's actively trying to make sure that this guy doesn't hear the gospel. He's fighting against it. He says, you know what? No, I can't let this happen. He's a child of the devil. He's a false prophet. He's just trying to do everything he can to prevent anything good from happening here. That was in verse 9. So, now we see the apostle Paul calling him a child of the devil. We already know he's a false prophet. He's saying, look, you're a child of the devil. And here's the thing, too. I brought this up before. I'll bring it up again real quick. If you're a child of God, not everyone in the world is a child of God. You become a child of God because you're born again. That's the only way you can become a child of God. As John chapter 1 says, But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. You become a son of God. You become a child of God. You know, many people believe, oh, everyone in the whole world is a child of God. Not true. It's false. You have to become a child of God. So, those who are a child of God, they have eternal life. But those who are a child of the devil, I also believe that not everyone in the world who's unsaved is a child of the devil either. They're not twice dead, as the Bible describes a false prophet to be. They become a child of the devil the moment they become a reprobate. Okay? And we'll get into that in a little bit, but they know God. They know who He is. They reject Him. They have nothing to do with Him. They've heard the Gospel. They don't want it. They don't want it, and they've made their choice, their final decision, whatever moment that is for them, with God. They made their choice, and now they're reprobate. Now they're a child of the devil. Now Satan is their father. You can't go back and be unborn. Okay? We can't be unborn. Praise God. Right? You're born again. You can't be unborn from God's family. Well, children of the devil, they can't be unborn either. Once you've gone to that point, there's no going back. You're in that family. You're of Satan. So he calls them out here. He says in verse 10, Instead of full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell in him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Okay. Bar of Jesus, false prophet, very clear. What does it call him, though? He says he was a certain sorcerer. Now go back to Acts chapter 8, because I want to bring up another example of a person in this book who also used sorcery. Okay, I think there's some similarity here, but this guy is not a false prophet. Bar of Jesus clearly is. This guy is not. Look at verse number 9, the Bible says, But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria. So bewitching people, you're deceiving them. Okay? Giving out that himself was some great one. So he was claiming to be this great guy of God, this great man of God. And he was bewitching the people, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. He's using sorcery, he's claiming himself to be some great guy, and obviously he's deceiving people. Verse 12, But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Look at verse 13, Then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. How are we finding out that Simon himself believed also? By the narrator of the Bible. This isn't Simon himself saying that he's saved, or even saying that he believes. We can trust, the reason I bring it up, we can trust when the narrator of the Bible speaks, that what it's stating right there is absolutely 100% a fact and true. Just as much as we're trusting that it called bar Jesus a false prophet, that was the narrator saying that. There's no interpretation there, there's no one's misunderstanding or misidentifying someone. The narrator says, that guy was a false prophet. Well you know what the narrator says right here? That Simon himself believed also. I'm sorry, what do we have to do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus. And what just happened in the context? When they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. So what did they believe? They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, which is why they were baptized. So they got saved. So Simon himself believed also, meaning the same things that they were believing, you know what that means? Simon was saved. Simon got saved. Simon was a sorcerer, Simon was deceiving people, Simon was trying to make himself out to be some great man of God, but Simon got saved. This is why this is important because sometimes for us it may be difficult to discern between a false prophet and someone who actually can get saved. So we always want to be careful on who we label as being a false prophet. Now we don't get to see exactly what people say. The Bible's not recording everything that pretty much anyone is saying that's a false prophet or whatever. The closest thing we get is probably Judas. As far as recording actual words that come out of their mouths, we don't get to see much of that at all. We didn't see much from Elenin, we don't see anything here, or too much at least from this guy. But what we do see from this guy is that as we continue reading the story, he sees that they're getting all this power from the Holy Ghost and he wants that power too. He's this brand new babe in Christ, but he's going, hey, lay your hands on me, I'll pay you if I can have that same power too, then I can lay my hands on people and then they can receive the Holy Ghost. He wants to be able to do the same thing, right? But don't forget, this guy was just someone who was looked to and revered and, oh man, this great power of God, and they're saying they have to rebuke him. And he was in sin, but that doesn't mean that he's not saved. He tried to do something that wasn't right, he thought that he could purchase that power and be like, oh yeah, here, I'll give you some money. And then let me be able to do that too. But he clearly could not have been a false prophet, because the false prophet according to the Bible is twice dead. They are beyond salvation, they're beyond redemption. Now, the Pharisees themselves, they comprised most of the false prophets that we read about in the New Testament. They do. I mean, think about Matthew chapter 23, Jesus goes on rebuking them, calling them children of the devil, I mean, he goes on and on giving them, you know, reading the riot act to him as it were, and just full on rebuking them, and also just calling them in multiple places children of the devil. I mean, read the book of John, you child of the devil, you're of your father the devil, and who's he speaking to? The Pharisees. The Pharisees, right? So a lot of the Pharisees were false prophets. By definition, they were reprobate, they're the ones that, you know, were responsible for the murder of Jesus. There's so many things that they did that they would absolutely, clearly reprobate. But you know what? Not all of them were. Not every Pharisee was a reprobate. Because you know who was a Pharisee? The Apostle Paul. I mean, Apostle Paul says, and I'll just read some of these references for you. In Acts 23 verse 6, but when Paul perceived that the one power of Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. Right? He said, look, I'm a Pharisee. Acts 26 verse 4, the Bible says, my manner of life from my youth, which was at the first, among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. So not only is Apostle Paul a Pharisee, but he's like a fundamentalist Pharisee. He is. I mean, he's saying after the most straightest sect, like, we're toeing the line here on being a Pharisee. And he's saying, that's who I was. And then in verse number 9 there, the Bible says, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints that I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme. He's like, I made them blaspheme. I was trying to make them say things against the God of heaven, against Jesus Christ. I was compelling them to blaspheme the name of God. And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them, even unto strange cities. He's like, I was just going after them everywhere. But was the Apostle Paul a false prophet? No. He could not have been. He could not have been. Think about this. Not only do we have the Apostle Paul as an example, we're going to go back to him a little bit. You know, the Apostle Paul and Jesus both spent time trying to get Pharisees saved. Now we hold true here, you know, not to cast your pearls before swine. If someone can't be saved, what's the point? Right? Now you could say, hey, as far as Jesus is concerned, when he rebuked the Pharisees, he called them out, called them children of the devil. There was a point and a purpose for that. One very big point is because we have it in Scripture, like for us to learn from today. Right? So Jesus doing things and calling them out. Also, calling out a false prophet is valuable as well. Identifying them, marking them, you know, cursing them. Say, hey, these people are false prophets, just as Jesus did children of the devil. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's a difference between calling them out, rebuking, everything else, and giving them the gospel. Turn to John chapter 3. Because we have an example here of a Pharisee named Nicodemus that I don't think was a reprobate. Because it wouldn't make sense for Jesus to go on giving this guy the gospel if he were. That doesn't make sense to me. I mean, we're in John chapter 3. Right? All of these famous passages in John chapter 3 derive from a conversation that Jesus had with a Pharisee. Now, by and large, the Pharisees were false prophets. They were children of the devil. But not all of them were. Not all of them were. First, number one, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Now, one thing we're going to see in this conversation, too, there are other people that were Pharisees that came to Jesus asking Him questions, but the Bible's clear when they're trying to set a trap for Him. They're just trying to catch Him in His words and try to do something. We don't really see that from Nicodemus. We don't see that attribute here being expressed or definitely not being told us explicitly from the Bible. As it is in many other cases where people are trying to talk to Jesus and get Him to be tripped up in His words. Verse number three, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So He starts right off talking to the guy about being born again. Verse four, Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time in his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, he must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell when it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou master of Israel, and knowest not these things? So I would say it doesn't look like Nicodemus is saved. He didn't even understand being born again. And then Jesus kind of rebukes on me and says, well, how can you even be called a master and you don't know these things? These are the most basic things. But He's actually explaining what it means to be born again. He's explaining that, hey, it's of the Spirit. It's not of the flesh. You have the flesh, you have the Spirit, two births, and you'll be born again. He's explaining it to us. I mean, I use these passages all the time, outsoleting, to explain people they need to be born again. It's a sole-winning passage. You're preaching the Gospel to someone. Verse 11, very, very I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up. He's trying to relate to this guy. Look, just like Moses, remember that serpent in the wilderness? Look, the same way the Son of Man needs to be lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. If that's not the Gospel, what is? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth in him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Lord begotten Son of God. And it continues on and on, but that's basically the point here. Jesus is preaching the Gospel to Nicodemus. He's not calling him a false prophet. Nowhere do we see Nicodemus being shady or sneaky, trying to catch him in his words. He comes to him by night, probably because he didn't want to be seen by the other people, because the Pharisees were going to kick you out of the synagogue if they thought you were a believer in Jesus Christ. We see another example of Nicodemus then later on in John 7. Turn if you would to Acts 15. In John 7, I'll read this for you, verse 45, the Bible reads, Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? Talking about Jesus. Why have you brought him to us? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them, The Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, He that came to Jesus by night, being one of them... So the Bible's being very specific to point out this is that same Nicodemus. This is the same person. This is what he said, Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? So he just, I mean, he sticks his neck out there just to ask a question like, Hey, can we can we really judge this guy without even hearing from him? Like, like, like, can we at least hear from him? He's not being very bold at all, other than just being like, Look, guys, aren't we supposed to at least hear what he has to say? And look at the response. They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look for of Galilee your eyes with no profit. Jesus was like shutting him down right away. But he was actually just at least trying to hear from him, right, of all the Pharisees. This doesn't strike me as a false prophet, right, because he's not. Not from any indication that we can tell. And I'll read the reference for you. But we already already brought it up. John 12 42. The Bible says, Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. So people were able to get saved. But because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God, they wouldn't confess it openly. They wouldn't say that they actually believed. Nicodemus may or may not fall into that camp, right? I don't know. I can't tell you if he actually believed and got saved or not. But what I can tell you is it does not look like the examples and all the characteristics of a false prophet. Acts chapter 15. Unequivocally, more than just the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee that got saved. First, number five. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. Was there a certain of the sect of the Pharisees that believed? It says it right there. They believed. Now look at what they said. That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Talk about the Gentile believers. Saying, well look, we still need to have them circumcised and we still need them to keep the law of Moses. Now that's not necessarily to keep their salvation, but that's what they're saying. Look, we need to teach them still to do this stuff. They were wrong on a lot of things. They were still needed to get everything figured out on the changes for the New Testament. And we'll see that this sect of the Pharisees, you know, their ones, they were not right. But the Bible says they believed. So then the apostles and elders came together for the consider of this matter. And when they had much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto the men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of God, excuse me, word of gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us. See, and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith, there was a common belief at the time among the Jews that they weren't even thinking that these Gentiles could get saved. They really thought they had the mindset of being the children of God, that going out to these other heathen, you know, like they weren't doing that. They thought it was a sin to go out and just like even have a meal with these guys. That's what, and I've preached an entire sermon about this before, because you go through the book of Acts and you see that. You see that playing out. You see, I'll be like, yo, when Peter and Barnabas get up and leave after a certain came from James, like they were eating, fellowshipping, everything was fine with these other believers, and then these people come from James, and then they're like, oh yeah, we're going to go and isolate ourselves and separate ourselves, you know. Why? Because that was the mindset at the time. They were wrong in doing those things. They were wrong in thinking many of these things, but God cleared it up for them. Just like these guys were wrong about, hey, you have to circumcise them. No, you don't. No, you don't. But they were still believers. They were an error on what we consider even to be some major doctrines, but they were still believers. Oh, man. I'm getting there. Turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 1. We already read some of the references about the apostle Paul, how he said he was a Pharisee. He was from the most straightest sect of the religion. He did these things. He was fighting against the cause of Christ. He did all of this, yet he was not a reprobate. 1 Timothy 1, verse 12. Bob reads, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. So he was a blasphemer. He caused other people to blaspheme. He was a persecutor and injurious, right? Injurious to the people of God. He was causing injury. But why did he obtain mercy? Why was he not a false prophet? Now, we don't know what he said and how he lived and everything that came out of his mouth, because we don't have the record of that. But it's not a far stretch to think that if someone is living their life after the most straightest sect of being a Pharisee, that how a person can be saved probably came out of his mouth at some point. And when he was a Pharisee, it was wrong. Before he was saved, whatever he said was wrong. Clearly. It had to be. But does that make him a false prophet because he said those things? Whatever he may have said? Like I said, we don't have that part written down in the scripture of what he actually said. But how many people that are devout and living after the straightest sect of any religion is not at least talking about these things and having these words coming out of their mouth? And maybe even trying to instruct people on that, too. There's a difference. People who are deceived and sincerely deceived and believe something false and try to teach other people because they sincerely think that their way is just the right way, and they don't know the Gospel, they've never understood the Gospel, but they've been brought up a certain way or they've lived a certain way, and they think the way is right. They're doing so in unbelief. You can't just automatically label that person a false prophet. Because one of the key elements is what the Apostle Paul said here. Look, I did it ignorantly. Ignorantly means he didn't know. He didn't know. In unbelief. He did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Now, there's some things he knew. He knew that people were claiming that Jesus is the Son of God, and he was causing them to blaspheme. But he still didn't know the Gospel. He still didn't understand it. He was fighting against something that he didn't quite know. And I would say people can still do that very thing today. They can fight against things, but not quite understand it, not know about it, and still be able to do so ignorantly in unbelief. The key, though, is, and this is what makes it difficult, a little bit difficult, is like Romans 1 says, and you stay in 1 Timothy 1. Romans 1, 21, the Bible says, Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They knew. The reprobate isn't ignorant. They came to a point where they knew. They knew the Gospel. They knew God. But they glorified him not as God. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things, and then God gives them over to reprobate mind. Right? But they knew. The apostle Paul may have been exposed to the truth, but he didn't know it. He was fighting against the truth, but he didn't know it. He did it ignorantly in unbelief. That is the key difference between what's going to make someone that might look like a false prophet and someone who is a false prophet. That's a big difference right there, is understanding, hey, does this person actually know or not? But here's the thing. What's going to go along, the other characteristics will go along with the false prophet. The real false prophet is going to be the one who's privily sneaking in and doing this other. The apostle Paul wasn't hiding what he believed at all. He wasn't trying to creep in. He was just trying to fight against. The false prophet, it's going to be all about money for him. We see nothing that would indicate that it's all about money for the apostle Paul at all, that he's making merchandise of people, that he's covetous, and that he's trying to get into this position just in order to make merchandise of people. He seems sincere, right? But those are attributes of a false prophet. So when you start putting these things together, you've got to see a little bit more of the picture and be like, oh, okay, yeah, why is a false prophet so wicked so bad? Because they're a wolf. They're literally just out to harm that which is good and right, but they know full well who they are. But we don't want to look at someone, and even the apostle Paul, you could be like, well, he looks like a wolf to me because he's destroying the flock of God. But he wasn't. So we want to be careful. We want to be careful in our identification. In 1 Timothy, we're still in chapter 1, right? Let's keep reading. Verse 14 says, In the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. The apostle Paul is always saying here is that God's making a point out of him, an example out of him, to show the longsuffering that God actually has with people. Do not underestimate. Well, yes, the reprobate exists. The false prophet exists. They're damned. They're unable to be saved. Do not underestimate the longsuffering of God either. Because the Lord's not willing that any should perish but that all should come under repentance. He wants everyone to be saved and he has a lot of longsuffering and opportunity before someone finally is just, okay, you're rejected. So we need to have that same mentality of being able to say, look, be very careful when you're going to label someone as just saying, look, this is a false prophet. Because you have a lot of attributes that are given to help identify the false prophet. Not just one. And it's not just something that someone says. A lot of people say a lot of things that are just completely false. The apostle Paul is one of them. Even people who are saved were saying things that were wrong. You have to look at the big picture. Because it's a big deal. If you label someone a false prophet, it's like, man, that guy is just damned. I'll turn a few more to Galatians, chapter 1. How do we deal with people that teach a false gospel? Are they all false prophets? I would say no. No. They're not all false prophets. So how do you deal with it? Well, the Bible says that someone teaches a false gospel, they are to be accursed. This is not an area where we need to be careful with as far as how do you respond to someone teaching a false gospel. Okay, someone teaching a false gospel, hey, let them be accursed. Look at verse number 6 of Galatians, chapter 1. The Bible says, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. Okay, now, what I want to point out here, letting someone be accursed, okay, or even cursing someone out is not the same as saying that person is a reprobate. The Bible says, does it say anyone that preaches another gospel unto you is a reprobate? That's not what it says. It says let him be accursed. Okay, and let him be accursed. Someone will go around and try teaching a false gospel, hey, let him be accursed. But even being accursed is more than just damnation of a soul in hell. Curses have lots of meanings. Now, here I would say, yeah, let him be accursed. I mean, hey, man, you're sending people to hell, you know, you could be accursed. If some Jehovah's Witness comes to my house, I'm going to curse them out and rebuke them and tell them to stop, you know, spreading that false gospel and that they're going to, you know, split hell wide open. But that doesn't necessarily mean that every single one of those people is a false prophet and is beyond redemption and cannot be saved. Okay, while they may be doing the work of the devil because they're preaching a false gospel, that doesn't mean that that person is just beyond redemption. Unless maybe they exhibit, you know, we could see any other type of indicator that this person, oh, yeah, I mean, they just care about the money. Look, deceivers are, you know, deceive themselves oftentimes. You know, these people are deceived, and then they end up deceiving other people, but they're still deceived. If they're deceived, they're ignorant. Or I've been deceived, someone tricked you into, oh, this is the right way, okay, well, I'm going to go this way, that's the right way. They've been duped. They've been fooled. But look, let them be accursed. Sure. Let's see, I'm at the end of my notes here, so we're almost done. Can we talk about being accursed? I just have a few examples here of, you know, like the apostle Peter when he was following Jesus, right, to see what was going to happen to him. When they were asking him, hey, weren't you one of them? The Bible says he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. So, I mean, he cursed. There's Mark 11, verse 13. The Bible talks about when Jesus came across this fig tree. He says, Jesus said on the fig tree, he was looking for figs and it wasn't there. He said, no man eat fruit of the hereafter forever. Right, so he said, hey, look, you didn't have fruit here when I wanted it, so no man's going to eat fruit from you forever. And then when they came back by that tree later on, it says, and Peter called in remembrance on it, master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. Why? Because cursing is wishing something bad upon someone. It doesn't necessarily have to do with a soul going to hell. A curse can just be like, you know, a blessing is wishing something good upon somebody. And a cursing is wishing something evil or bad upon somebody. The evil was, hey, no man eat fruit of the hereafter. You're not going to produce any fruit anymore because you didn't have it when I wanted it. And you know what, that tree withered away. It was done. Because Jesus cursed it. The Bible says in Galatians 3, 10, if you're in Galatians already, turn to chapter 3, we'll close on Galatians 3, 10. But in Joshua 7, 12, remember the sin of Achan, they're not supposed to take of the accursed thing, or else God's not going to be with them. Joshua 7, 12, the Bible says, therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies because they were accursed. The children of Israel were accursed. Achan was the one who did the bad thing. Achan was the one who stole. Achan was the one who hid it in his tent. But they all couldn't, they couldn't fight because they were accursed. That's what the Bible says. Neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you. So to deal with the problem, then they wouldn't be accursed anymore. That's the same word, accursed. Let them be accursed. Okay, God's saying, look, I'm not going to be with you, I'm not going to bless you, you're going to be accursed, but then once you get rid of that problem, now you will no longer be accursed. For as the Bible says in Galatians 3, 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For as written, cursed is everyone that continueeth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Everyone who's believing or teaching in a works-based salvation is under that curse. And you know what, let them be accursed. That's how we respond to the false gospel, but not every person who believes or would even repeat a false gospel is a false prophet. There is a difference. And the key is being able to discern is this person rotten to the core because God has given them over to a reprobate mind and they start to exhibit these attributes of being a false prophet. They're covetous, whatever, right? And you can see this in certain people, in certain of these big teachers, these big name that everybody loves, the false prophets of the world. You see these attributes in them. So that's why you have no problem saying, you know what, Billy Graham is a false prophet. Not only does he have a false gospel, but all the world loves him. He, you know, he has all this money. He's saying all these things. Look, there's so many different ways that you could tie in the attributes of the false prophet to that guy. To where you could easily say like, yeah, I have no problems calling him a false prophet, right? But when you start getting down to nobodies and people who aren't doing that much and people who are just attending a church and going to a church and saying, well, they must be a false prophet because they said a false gospel or something like, look, be careful with that. Okay, I don't believe that to be true. I think we need to use reason when we're, you know, looking at people and making these accusations, really. And we ought to err on the side of caution going, hey, I don't know if they are or not. Now look, there's going to be some people that are going to end up being false prophets that maybe we don't identify as such when we're trying to be careful. But I'd rather have that be the case. I mean, you could still mark and avoid people and say, like, look, this guy, you know, if anyone's teaching anything wrong, just be like, okay, well, that's, you know, identified that as being wrong. You don't necessarily have to be identified as a false prophet, but I'd rather have that be the case than having someone who's not a reprobate being labeled as a false prophet. That's a bigger deal. It's a big deal. You don't want to have that happen because then it's like, oh, that guy is just completely of the devil. So you want to be careful in that identification. Use the scripture. God gives us what to look for, for a good reason. So yeah, if you're able to say, yeah, I could see this and this, you know, whatever, be able to apply it, then do it. Amen. That's what we're supposed to do. But if there's an element of doubt there, and especially, you know, the apostle Paul is probably the biggest example, look at all the things that he did, and if you're just looking at those same types of things as what he did, then how do you know? Right? Like if you could put a person up next to the apostle Paul before he got saved, and be like, well, see, look, this guy's doing all these things. And it's like, well, if the apostle Paul did all those same things too, then you can't just use that as your determining factor of saying this person is a false prophet, they're a reprobate. Does that make sense? Because he wasn't. He got saved. Right? So there's something else behind that that you need to make sure is there. Let's borrow that word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the wisdom that you teach in our word. Pray that you please help us all to continue to grow, help us to be able to identify the wolves, dear Lord, so they don't do any more damage. I pray that you would help us to just increase our knowledge, and I pray that you please give us the truth, help us to be able to teach others so, dear Lord, and just bless our church. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we are dismissed this morning. Brother Peter, please lead us. Song 183. Let's sing this beautiful song on the first. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me of a Savior's love who died to set me free. It tells me of His precious blood, the Savior's perfect King. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. It tells me what my Father had in store for every day. And though I dread a dark sun that is sunshine all the way. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. All right, on the last, let's sing this one out like Baptist, okay? It tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest sorrow. Whom they need sorrow bears apart and none can bear below. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. Great singing, thank you so much for coming, guys. Thank you. Thank you.