Well, our scripture reading. Scripture reading is from The
Book of Matthew. Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew Chapter 7, We're coming down now to the last about 20%
of The Sermon on the Mount today.
We're in Matthew chapter 7, in our scripture, reading and text
comes from verse 15 and following here.
Now, the word of the Lord This is Jesus speaking, of course,
beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes, gathered from
thornbushes or figs from thistles.
So, every healthy tree Bears, good fruit, but the diseased
tree Bears. Bad fruit a healthy tree cannot
bear, bad fruit. Nor can a disease done-- bear,
good fruit. Every tree that does not bear.
Good, fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Does she will recognize them by their fruits, the word of the
Lord, and you may be seated. False prophets.
First thing I did last this week when I began to prepare for this
message was, I just sat down? and pulled out a my legal pad
and yeah I use it legal pad I don't use one of them silly
little and I started sketching all sorts of groups and
movements and things that in my opinion were false prophets led
by false, prophets espousing false teaching and in many ways
practicing Wicked and false practices.
And I filled up the legal pad before I could hardly realize
what I'd done. And it stunned me I began to
think about it. I kind of knew this, but as I
laid it out before me, The vast majority of what calls itself
Christian today. Is false.
That's just hard to imagine. but there are Heretics of the first
order. People, that deny the
Incarnation. People that are totally mistaken
about what Authority base. We have, whether it's the word
of God or tradition or the latest word from man.
God told me this morning and on and on I went and I was
frustrated to try to categorize it all because I wanted to spell
it all I wanted to name names. I know lots of names, I wanted
to match them up with doctrines and pull something out of the
scripture and I said, first of all, I don't have the time to do
that but more importantly, I really don't have the wisdom and
discernment to do that. A good make a good shot at it,
but it's unbelievable. Amount of false things that are
being taught in the name of the one who said, I am the truth.
While later in this particular passage, we're going to get to
where Jesus talked about. Those that did a lot of
wonderful things in his name. And what he'll say to.
We'll save that for us under your two down the road.
What I thought I would do, since I filled up with a legal pad,
full of all sorts of false, teachers and false Doctrine, and
false movements, and heresies, and everything, I could think of
off the top of my head, I just decided Well, instead of
sketching, you my opinion, why don't I just read you a few
words of scripture and let the scriptures speak for themselves?
And see what the apostles Doctrine is concerning these
false teachers and how we are to relate to them and what we are
to do to them. So this will be as about every
third sermon, I try to put together a listing on a reading
of Holy Scripture. The first place I'll go is to
Acts chapter 20. Paul is on his missionary
Journeys. He's coming back through a place
where he had been before he stops in the elders, from the
fusion church, as well as the surrounding area.
Probably join him for. A real real long sermon and he's
teaching them and he's telling them and testifying to them
about how his ministry was among them.
And in Acts chapter 20, Verse 29.
Paul says, know that after my departure Fierce wolves will
come in among you not sparing the flock and from among you
your own selves will arise men speaking Twisted things to draw
away the disciples after them. Notice Paul uses the same
language, Jesus does, he calls them wolves?
Ravenous wolves are here to Devour the flock.
And Paul says, After I'm Gone, these men will come in But
they're not going to come from the outside.
They're going to come from among you.
And that's my application here in a few moments.
I'm going to talk about what's happening Among Us with the
false movements. The false teaching in the false
doctrines are in the PCA the Presbyterian Church in America,
not going to talk about the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witness,
the Roman Catholics and all the rest.
We're going to talk about the Presbyterian Church in America
things that have Arisen Among Us and are being taught and
countenanced by our own. Pastors and professors and
leaders. Let out a hold attention for a
few moments. By the way, let's see how they
did the church at Ephesus that Paul was preaching to over in
Revelation. Jesus speaks to the church at
Ephesus. After about 50 years have gone
by maybe 40 years have gone by and so he has a critique for the
churches, the seven churches of Asia in John's Revelation in
Chapter 2. There the first portion first
few verses apply to the church at Ephesus to the angel of the
Church of Ephesus write. And then he says, I know your
works. It works your toil in your
patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are
evil but have tested, those who call themselves Apostles and are
not and found them to be false. Church of Ephesus had managed to
do it. They had identified the false
teachers. They had recognized the true
Apostolic Doctrine and had held to that faith in paste in the
faithful and patient endurance. And you cannot bear with those
who are evil. That teach the false Doctrine,
wouldn't put up with it, called it out named it.
And as we'll see in a moment, what Paul says, mark them.
Mark those that are false and avoid them and so that's what
the church at Ephesus had done. Now he has some other critique
of some of the things they had done one thing if we're not
going to isolate ourselves here. But he told them they've left
their first love. It's an interesting.
They were really good at discernment.
They could tell what was false. They didn't put up with it, they
disciplined. They put the in avoided, the
false teachers. But they'd still left their
first love. They had grown cold indifferent
backslidden, what do you think? Their first love was Should be
Christ. The bridegroom.
Sometimes we can do that, sometimes we can be real
Discerning and can really separate truth from error and
falsehood from the truth, and still lose.
Our first love. Well, that's another sermon for
another day. Let's get back on topic.
Paul. In Romans 16 said just what a
moment ago, I anticipated it. He tells the people that they
are to, I appeal to you, Brothers to watch out, or to
Mark those who cause divisions in create obstacles, contrary to
the doctrine that you have been taught and avoid them.
In other words, watch out for them.
Keep your eyes and ears open. And when you discover them when
you discernment, avoid them for search persons, do not serve our
Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own appetites.
And that's a theme through this false Doctrine warnings.
We find in the apostolic Doctrine, the teachings of the
Apostles is that these people are operating in the
satisfaction of their own bellies, it's their own
appetites. It's their own Pleasures that
they are really working for their working for their own, And
Grand Iseman and they're working for their own profits.
And these are the, some of the motives, but by smooth talk and
flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
That's the thing. You'll notice about false
teachers is there usually excellent teachers.
You know, they were just incoherent teachers and didn't
have any appeal you wouldn't listen to anything that said
true or false. But because they are have smooth
teaching. They know theological words,
they know things to say, they know the tone of voice, then
they know the temperament of God's people.
And so they're able to be highly deceptive.
And that's why they're told we're told to watch out for them
by smooth talk and flattery Jude will say, later on if we get to
it in a moment, Hilt, I say they have men's persons in
admiration. They're people that like to be
in high places and they like to be with others that are in high
places. Dr. So-and-so here.
Reverend so-and-so here. Bishop so-and-so there.
They have men's persons in admiration and they move ahead
by flattery, and they move ahead by by compromise, so that things
can keep going and they can be elevated.
One of the things you watch for, well, let's stay with Paul for a
little bit over toward the latter part of Paul's Ministry.
Paul was very interested in reaching people, but so much of
his work in the latter. Part of Paul's Ministry was
where he would go back to place. She had been before, if you
receive his missionary Journeys, their big circles on your maps,
in the back of your Bible and they started Antioch in the go
all the way through and they come back and they go around and
he goes to some places. He's being, he's going to some
other places but the time he writes the book of Romans he's
ready to operate and go all the way to the to hispania to Spain
and Portugal to the further and western part of the
Mediterranean, and he seeks to carry the gospel where the
gospel is not been before. But he still concerned about all
those churches that he's planted and all these churches, he's
ministered to in his missionary Journeys, in the prior years and
he does another thing. He sins young men, he has a
whole group of young men. They're listed in several of his
Epistles. He sends them to these places.
And instructs them. And two of those men, we have
some of the documentation that Paul gave them in.
It is the man Timothy young, man, Timothy and also Titus, and
Paul several places, and let me just sort of sketch through
here. As we go in first, Timothy
Chapter, 4 verses, 11 and 2. Now, the spirit expressly says
that in the latter times some will depart from the Faith by
devoting themselves to Seat for Spirits.
Do me notice how the theme is false?
It's deceit, it's misleading. Those are the things that that
are that are in the Forefront to deceitful, spirits and teachings
of demons through the insincerity of liars, Liars,
whose consciences are seared. Continuing and in chapter 6, in
verse 3, he admonishes Timothy, Teach an urge these things, if
anyone teaches a different Doctrine and does not agree with
the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching
that Accords with godliness and he goes on to talk about
quarrels and controversies that spring up and all sorts of
things that are happened, constant friction among people
who are depraved in mine and depressed and deprived.
Out of the truth. Well, if I was a preacher, I'd
be a good to point sermon right there, depraved in the mine.
And deprived of the truth. And they're imagining that
godliness is a means of gain. Is there anything that you've
noticed in our Christian culture today, where they're concerned
with money? Well, that's who he's talking
about here. Who saw him at those guys.
I don't have time to name right now.
But continuing on, let's sketch through this, pretty quickly 2nd
2nd Timothy Chapter 4. Verse 3.
For the time is coming, when people will not endure sound
teaching. But having itching ears, they
will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own
passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander off into myths. Is that happening in these days
where you have a tractional preachers who collect to
themselves a huge, massive audiences who come to here?
They come to hear but they have ears that they're ready.
Just to have scratched like you would scratch your puppy dog.
And they tickle their ears and the pet them on the head and
they coddle them. And they tell them things that
are peaceful and good, and success and prosperity.
They say, peace with the word, peace means, by the way, it
means Health wholeness Prosperity.
Well-being, they say, peace, peace.
When there is no peace. Because the troubled soul of the
wicked heart will never find peace but will always be seeking
and always be churning and always sneaking into these
deceivers. These false teachers will make
that their operational principle.
They will draw to themselves those that have itching ears and
they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own Passions. Yes.
Titus. Titus Chapter 1 verse 10.
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers,
and deceivers, same thing, false deception lying especially those
of the circumcision party and we won't go into who that is.
But Paul name that name, they knew who they were and everyone
else knew they were because he pointed him out.
They must be silenced. They must be silenced.
They must be silenced in the rebuke an admonition, every
proof not silenced any violent way, but silenced, in terms of
making their doctrines known and their mouths hushed, they must
be silent. Since they are upsetting whole
families by teaching for shameful gain, shameful gain
that, which they ought not, to teach and then Titus in three
10:00. As a person who stirs up
division after warning him once and then twice having nothing
more to do with him knowing that such a person is Warped and
sinful, he is self-condemned Paul speaks in the same terms,
the Lord speaks in our text, it's you discern by their
fruits, you know, them by their fruits.
There's a good tree, bringeth forth, good fruit.
Which Bears. Good fruit.
And, you know it you can see it and brings forth the fruit of
the spirit, the fruit of righteousness.
The fruit of holiness. then there is The bad tree bringing
forth the bad fruit. Things that only deceive and
only mislead. Peter, we've looked at Paul.
It's looking Peter for just a moment. 2nd Peter chapter 2, but
false prophets also arose. Among the people just as there
will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in
destructive heresies. They don't bring it in with
banners flying. They bring it into the
smooth-talk words of flattery outstanding, presentations,
charts, and graphs, you know, all kinds of PowerPoint
presentations, that sound will come in.
Be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in to suck,
destructive heresies even denying the master, who bought
them bringing upon themselves, Swift destruction.
That's what Jesus said, said, Peter heard him say it when he
said it that this kind of teaching leads to destruction,
And many will follow their sensuality since you Alchemy,
and they'll follow their emotions, their senses, they
will follow their, their, their feelings, the things that are
that are sensible to us and because of them, the way of
truth truth as opposed to false truth will be blasphemed.
That's one of the interesting things is that our world today
with so much error in the church and and so much, so many false
teachers Ears. When you do hear a sound
biblical? Theologically orthodox.
Teacher. They're usually blasphemed
somewhere another. If they're to biblical and too
much dedicated to the word, it seemed by the people they're
accused of not having the spirit of God.
Not realizing that it's the spirit of God that inspired the
scriptures. Wouldn't have any scriptures.
One of the spirit of God, those that are in the Bible, they're
not ignoring the Holy Spirit. They're going to what he said.
They're the ones that are hearkening to his voice.
They're the ones that's listening to the Holy Spirit,
not some of the people that are doing and I won't go into what's
going on in the name of the Holy Spirit.
I'm trying to be restrained today.
How am I doing so far? It was the Holy Spirit that
guides us into all truth. Those that wrote the scriptures
as they were borne Along by the spirit of God.
So that where they ended up was where God wanted them as the
holy wind, the holy spirit of God, the holy Breath of God
inspired scriptures. If you want more and more of the
Holy Spirit to be operative in your life, you need more and
more of his Holy Scripture. The operative in your life.
This is the holy spirit that enables you to understand the
scriptures. He is the one that illuminates
and sheds light upon. He's the one that brings
conviction to your soul when you read it and you say this is
verily, the word of God. There's a false economy between
the holy spirit in the Holy Scripture.
We're going to worship God and no God.
We have to worship God in spirit and in truth, Thy word is truth.
And that's how we come to know and often the the true teachers
are blasphemed. They're accused of all kinds of
nuances of error that are really more than the inferential
reasoning of the hearers, not in want the band actually taught.
In other words, they attribute the good word of the spirit of
God as blasphemy. So it's a serious confrontation
is going to call for serious discernment, on the part of
people. Well John we read 11 from John
first John four. Beloved, do not believe every
Spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
For many false prophets, have gone out into the World.
By this, we know the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses
Jesus Christ is come in. The flesh is from God.
And every spirit that does not confess.
God confess. Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of antichrist.
That's what Antichrist is. It's that spirit that goes.
Against Christ at every Point. What world religions are
Antichrist. Well, I'm out of time.
But will you grant me a couple of minutes to mention the PCA Or
maybe. Ultimately wisdom and knowledge.
Or not exactly the same thing. You need to know something
knowledge. The Latin word that used it all
the theological studies, the word skin, see a science science
is knowledge, but wisdom is taking knowledge and
understanding it in such a way that it can be applied.
It can be used a certain way, it sets a framework for
understanding, all things and the worst false teachings that
come into the church or not, the variances of Doctrine, whether
you believe in baptism by immersion or baptism by
sprinkling, or whether you believe this.
This viewer that view and all kinds of nuances and two sides
to almost every theological coin.
You'll ever study every Doctrine scriptures is controverted in
the in the history of the church.
And it's a maze walking through it, but but all of that be as it
may and I'm all for doctrinal Orthodoxy and doctrinal Purity
and correctness. But the, but the first principle
of understanding, the things of God is to understand God's
Viewpoint in the world God's worldview and any attack upon
God's world view is attack upon ski and see us knowledge
science. Because God, created the world
and all things are as God created it and it's all the way
God called it to be. And we have three movements in
the PCA right now by movements. I mean, to say there's outside
influences and then there are men with in our denomination
that are beginner sympathize except a firm and even batik,
subtly things that derive from these influences.
Let me mention him to you. He quickly one is the feminist
movement been around a long time.
It's been around so long, we're in the third wave of feminism,
and now it's an egalitarian view.
It's a view of the world. It's a view of the way the human
being is. And it says that there's such an
equality between men and women, a same nest, no differentiation
whatsoever that you can have women doing things that God in
his creation ordained man to do. It's an egalitarianism that says
men and women are interchangeable and it works
itself out in roles of leadership.
And so they're saying that women can be Bishops and elders and
presbyters and even deacons. And I wish I had time to work on
that a little bit, but we're already out of time.
So I'm on borrowed time. Anyway, I'll just suggest that
to you and let you think. If you can hear anything
yourself in that area, the second one has to do with race.
The Bible says that God made of humanity, one Ray, Race.
There's no such thing as race is.
Mmm, it is God's one single race, the human race Adams Race.
And it's a fallen race of sinful race.
It's a redeemed race in Christ. There are prejudices their
hatreds. They're all kinds of
misunderstandings. There are all kinds of abuses
and oppression that comes in and among the people of the One race
and it's based on all kinds of things.
And we are now having Men in our denomination who are
intellectually flirting with, if not outright holding up to alien
Concepts, that have come in Social Marxist analysis, that
starts with there are two kinds of people, the oppressed and the
oppressor, and the oppressed are to be favored in the oppressor.
So that we have now kind of a chance to make bring about a
Justice and equality, a fairness that is not the justice that God
has set forth. It.
And so, we end up with all kinds of Reverse Racism, we end up
with demands. We end up with Perpetual guilt.
You can never be forgiven of the sin of being One racer.
Another, and that is pressing hard Upon Our denomination.
It followed the feminist movement about 10 years ago.
This one's been in our in our midst now, for about seven or
eight years. And the else.
And the third one is the homosexual agenda.
There are about five years, we've had a revoice conference
that was hosted by one of our churches and what they talked
about was a group of men who are gay but claim to be Christian
and wanted to be called gay or homosexual gay Christians and
the debate is whether you can be such a thing, whether you can
identify with your sin, and with your depravity, and with your
lostness and but the issue is not whether Not thinking be in
the church. The issue is whether or not they
can be pastors elders. And, and officers within the
church man who identify with their sin, this this conference,
the revoice conference was organized especially by men who
know how to speak. The language.
They had been raised in conservative Evan Joseph
denominations. They knew all the tones of
voice, they knew how to pronounce God just right.
And they. And so they come in smoothly.
And they talked all about warmth and sanctification, and loving
the Lord, and worshiping in the spirit and the feelings, they
can outtalk you with respect to the the, the trappings of
Christianity. But yet they're bringing in this
particular idea. By the way, the they targeted
the most conservative and dominant and staunch to this
point doctrinal denominations the Southern Baptist convention
the Missouri. Synod Lutheran and The
Presbyterian Church in America. They're trying to come in and
bring this gay Christian side B Christianity and how these men
can be officers in the church just as well.
That come from Among Us. They're smooth.
They're very, very attractive, they very subtle, they're very
emotional, they're very I sat through General Assembly meeting
in 2019 and watched a whole room full of Paris Petit.
Rien Elders, ruling elders, and teaching Elders.
Be enthralled by the testimony of one of these men.
And that's what we got to look out for.
I'm trying to warn you. There's no retirement anywhere
in the Bible. I found a verse over in Ezekiel
where it says that, I mean, in Isaiah where it says the
Watchman on the wall has got to stay there for the duration and
Warren God's people about the enemy that is within us.
There's no retirement anywhere in the Bible.
I found a verse over in Ezekiel where it says that, I mean, in
Isaiah where it says the Watchman on the wall has got to
stay there for the duration and Warren God's people about the
enemy that is within us.