The Charge to Guard the Gospel Pt 1

Well, good morning. This is our normal choppy start here, but for those that aren't here and they're they're viewing us on video, that's probably a good thing because Victor does an excellent job of editing.

So anyway, welcome to Faith Bible Church. And we're really pleased and glad that you're here. Some new faces and visitors this morning. So welcome to you. And this is the Lord's Day. And and it's the most special day for many here today that this is the day the Lord has made.

So let us be glad in it. In reading a devotional, yes. Well, update Iljin and Lauren, they're he's finishing finished up with his finals. They have secured some housing not too far from here. So that's that's a praise because it's not just automatically.

I need to find an apartment, get me in, take my application. You have to go through an approval process and verification of employment and all that. And so God saw them pass that and over that. And so there it's all all set up.

So praise God for that. So let's just keep keep them in prayer. And now they're as now they're going to be focused in more on the move and how to get out here. So we have a date. Not yet. No, it could be sooner than the first week of July.

Could be later June. But I think we'll know more as he's now that they're past these finals. And I think that's mostly it for for announcements and readying ourselves for the for the service this morning.

I was reading a devotional yesterday, and it said that, quote, corporate worship is designed to alert you to the war for control of your heart and to the help that is only found in Jesus. And isn't that true?

You know, we forget who God is. We look horizontally in the world and that begins to form our our worldview, our view of of the things around us, and it affects our spiritual life. It takes us away from the Lord and we lose hope.

David quoted the Lord in Psalm 95. It is a people speaking of the Israelites who go astray in their hearts and they do not know my ways. So we need to hold on to the Lord and keep him in our hearts and gathering corporately that just reinforces that ability and our requirement as believers to to trusting in him.

So would you join with me in prayer this morning? Our dear heavenly father, we are so grateful that we could gather this morning that to remember you, father, that we are forget for forgetful people, that we we stray.

We follow the the ideals of this world, father, to our detriment and not to your glory, father. So may this time build us up, Lord, in our faith and our trust in you that we can share in the love that you have demonstrated through your son, Jesus Christ, that as we lift our voices, as the word is preached, father, that there would just be a a calm and a peace and a joy that surpasses anything that this world can give us.

So, Lord, go before us this morning, father, prepare our hearts. Now, let us set aside those things that encumber us, that we might glorify you in just in all of your glory and grant your father. And we give you praise in all things in Christ's name.

Amen.

David, behold, our God and all of his glory. And let's stand and sing.

Behold our God and how great our God is. By thy name.

Please be seated at this time.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Actually, virtually for this morning is 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 through 6. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 6. Now the spirit speaketh expressly that a lot of times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

For every creature of God is good, for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things.

Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, of nourishing up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. Whereunto thou hast attained. May the Lord has blessing to read this word.

I love that verse. Let's stand and praise our Lord in song.

The mind of Christ, our saviour. You all for singing and now Pastor John.

Well, praise the Lord. Thank you, David. Good morning. Good morning.

If you have your Bibles,.

Please open them with me to Second Timothy, Second Timothy, and we're going to be in chapter one in a moment. So those of you that have been around here for the last few months, I think this is May, right?

There's a there's a there's a huge, gigantic chapter in the history of faith, Bible church that is going to begin very soon, and that is a new pastor. And when that reality began to sort of gel, I asked Harold and Victor, the elders of the church at that time, I was not an elder, just a plain old interim pastor that drove down here from our church.

And we're not going anywhere, as I mentioned, once Iljin and his wife Lauren come. But we started a series of messages. We began the year sort of laying out what is what is the gospel of Jesus Christ?

How can I know for sure where I will spend eternity? What is the gospel that Jesus Christ preached? So we did that for a couple of months. And then we began a series of messages that we're in now on standing firm in difficult and perilous times.

And we sort of established, I hope we all are on the same page that we're living in the last days and that the last days, according to Scripture, is a very long period of time. It began when Jesus rose from the dead.

Acts chapter one, Acts chapter one. He went up. The angel said he's going to come back the same way that he just went up. If you remember, Acts chapter one. And we have this period of time in human history called the last days.

And the last days will end when Jesus Christ comes again. And last week, if you recall, we talked about this great period of time that's kind of undefined because Jesus said no one will know. No one but the Father knows when I'm going to come again.

If you ever hear somebody, a pastor, a prophet, somebody on TV saying that Jesus is going to be here in the next 341 days, which, by the way, has happened. Right. Jesus is going to come back right after World War II.

I mean, you can go back, Google it. You all have the if you have a computer, Google it. How many predictions have been made when Jesus would come back? And if you have somebody predicts that, reject everything they say, because Jesus himself said only the Father knows.

Amen. You understand that? How can you tell a false teacher if he sets a date for the return of Jesus Christ?

He's a false teacher. OK.

And we understand in the last days there's this period of time towards the end of the last days, very close to when Jesus will come back called the end times. And within that short period of time, there's a period the Bible talks about called the last hour.

Remember from last week? Now, we have established some tools from Scripture when it comes to standing firm and not being shaken living in the last days. And I wonder if I passed out a open book test right now on a piece of paper, a quiz.

How many of you could tell me the four truths from God's word that we have covered that help us to understand how to stand firm when we are living in perilous and difficult times? The first one. I know you know this.

You can answer it right. I'll pass the quiz out. I'll give you multiple choice. How about true or false? Would that be easy? True or false? My students in school love true and false questions. They do not like answer this question in a full and complete sentence.

Right, Barb?

Don't give us a question like that, especially don't give it. Don't give an eighth grader a question that requires them to write more than one sentence. If you put in two or three sentences, 80 percent of them give you one sentence.

We're in a text message culture. I type a long text message to my kids. I'm lucky if I get an answer. And if I do, it's one letter, K. You know what that means? Okay, good. Okay, good. Or I get an R-O-F-L, rolling on the floor laughing.

Boy, parenting in the 21st century. Well, the first tool that we studied when it comes to standing firm is here in verse five in 2nd Timothy, chapter one. And it's a sincere or genuine faith. When Paul calls to remembrance Timothy's genuine or sincere faith, and he says, I'm persuaded that it's in you also.

It first dwelled in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice. I'm persuaded, I am convinced that it's in you as well. And then we also saw secondly from the sincere faith. So understand what we talked about some weeks ago.

Without a genuine saving faith, standing firm in difficult times, pulling ourself up by the bootstraps and facing what the world might throw at us can be a very challenging experience. But you see, with Christ on our side, we can do all things, Paul said, through Christ, right?

See, we can by faith stand firm. And also, secondly, we saw this incredible, humbling charge that Paul gives Timothy in verse eight. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.

So see, in our sincere faith, in our sincere faith, remember, at the end of verse seven, God has not given us a spirit of fear. I mean, depending on what's going to come down the road in the months and years ahead in the United States of America, in our own lives personally, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Therefore, because we have this in Christ, because of our sincere faith, we are to not be ashamed of the gospel, right? And then remember last week, how many verses did I read that talked about the dangers and the warning against being deceived?

If you weren't here, it's on YouTube. We talked about how often we're warned not to be deceived. And as Jesus Christ draws nearer, ever nearer, the world will be deceived by who? The Antichrist, right?

And this morning, we're going to continue learning Bible truths, faith truths that will help us to stand firm in difficult days. When Paul charges in verse 13, take a look what he says next. Hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you have heard from me.

And then verse 14, that good thing which was committed to you, keep or guard by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. See, the charge here by the Apostle Paul to Timothy is to hold fast what he has been taught and to keep or guard that good thing that was committed to him.

And church, please don't miss the last part of verse 14. How was Timothy to keep the good thing? By the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. You see, we cannot do this. We cannot stand firm without sincere faith.

We cannot be afraid to share the gospel, to tell people about Jesus Christ, to stand firm apart from the power of God in us. And we cannot guard the gospel. We cannot hold fast the pattern of sound words.

Without the Holy Spirit. Amen. Without faith. So how do we obey this sobering charge? God willing, we'll see some ways here in the text on how to do this, how guarding the gospel. Listen, please, how guarding the gospel is an integral part of standing firm in the last days.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this time in your word. We commit it now to your care. We're reminded of the role and ministry of the Holy Spirit, even right here, that comforts us, that strengthens us, God, empowers us.

He's also our teacher.

So we ask, Father God, that you might be pleased through the Holy Spirit to help us individually to understand the truths that you have for us. God, to open our eyes of understanding, our hearts to receive that you might be glorified, that Christ might be exalted.

We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Now, hold your place here. Please go to first, John. First, John, all the way to the back of your Bible. If you're a little confused, maybe you're not used to going all the way to the back of the Bible.

First, John, chapter one. Now, just to kind of set the stage a little bit there, there's there there's various, very, very serious warnings in the New Testament that that warn against deviating from a biblical doctrine.

What the Bible teaches of Jesus Christ, of skewing in in the slightest Jesus Christ at all from the way that he is presented and taught in God's word and deviating from a biblical gospel. You see, deviating from these two fundamental pillars of truth is where so many problems come into Christians lives and churches.

You look around today. This is not your grandfather's church anymore. When you visit churches, you can't even hear yourself think in many churches.

Try it.

Listen to the precision with which John later, after he wrote the Gospel of John, he writes these three epistles before he gets the revelation. And look what he says in First John, chapter one, verse one.

Look how precise the language is. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and which our hands have handled concerning the word of life.

The life was manifested and we have seen and we bear witness. And declare to you that eternal life, which was from the father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you may also have fellowship with us.

And truly, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. You see, embarking on a thorough study of the New Testament and focusing on the major themes of Jesus Christ and the gospel demonstrates clearly that a skewered view of the gospel or an incorrect or a deficient view or understanding of Jesus Christ.

Listen, was the genesis of the sexual immorality that was going on in the Thessalonian church, a distorted view of the gospel and of Jesus Christ, not holding fast to the pattern of sound words heard from the Apostle Paul.

When you read the book of Galatians, that was the root of the problem in the churches of Galatia that was tearing those churches apart. Not holding fast to the pattern of sound words that was set forth by the Apostle Paul was behind the Philippians, biting and devouring one another.

Believers glowering at each other when they get together, not wanting to sit together, not loving one another, not forgiving one another. The root of that was a skewered understanding of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

And by the time you get to Revelation, chapter two and Revelation, chapter three, not too long after most of the epistles were written and church 30 years, less than 30 years after Second Timothy was written.

You get to Revelation, chapter two and three and take a look sometime at the condition of the churches, the seven churches in Revelation. One of which had left their first love, another which was was was listening to false doctrine.

Another one who was hot or cold, another one who was living in in willful disobedience to the commands of Christ. So in short, in the church and in the lives of early believers, problems can can be traced back to fudging a little here, a little there, a slight deviation here.

And another here. And all of a sudden, listen, all of a sudden, the doctrine of Jesus Christ, what the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ, what the Bible teaches about the gospel, the biblical gospel, the biblical gospel that Jesus Christ and the apostles preached.

Right. That becomes corrupted. And what does the Bible warn us in Galatians, chapter six? A little leaven leavens the whole loaf. And pretty soon you have the cults, you have Mormonism, you have Jehovah witnesses, you have Islam.

Go to modern day Turkey. If Covid ever lifts. Oops. I'm not allowed to say that word because I just lost my in and out. My oldest daughter wore me on the way to church. Dad, if you say the word Covid, you ain't getting in and out.

My point is, go to modern day Turkey. You can make a no. You win. Yeah, you win. They're going to get it. And I'm going to sit in the car like a bad boy with the dunce cap and see no amount of forgiveness is going to work.

Right. Please forgive me. No, no. I warned you, babe. Okay. I'm a high school graduate. Now I can just do whatever I want to you, dad. But here's the point. You're not going to find a gospel preaching church in modern day Turkey.

You're going to find underground missionaries hiding from very serious persecution. Because it's an Islamic country. Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colossae, the churches of Galatia, Ephesus, all located where?

Smyrna, all located where? Modern day Turkey. And the point is that the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the gospel laid out in God's word is critical just like the precision in building buildings and bridges.

Last week in Acts 20, we read Paul's incredibly sober warning to the pastors of the churches in Ephesus, which included Timothy, a warning about how wolves would come in and corrupt the pattern of sound words about the gospel and about Jesus Christ.

He says, I know wolves are going to come in. And sure enough, they did. So go back to second Timothy, chapter one. Paul charges Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel. And now in verse 14, he charges him to keep and guard the gospel.

Verse 14, that good thing which was committed to you. Keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The word keep is an imperative. That means it is a command. And by the way, the word keep there in the New Testament Greek was a word that described guarding something, a sentinel.

OK, you understand when you're guarding something, you don't fall asleep. Amen. I mean, you don't sit there on your phone and watch YouTube videos. If you're tasked with guarding something, you guard it.

Under Roman law, if a Roman soldier fell asleep guarding, you know what happened to him? He didn't go to the pokey, off with his head. The language here was was used to describe an alert guard that is being diligent and is being careful and is being watchful.

And then look at the little two words, good thing, treasure. That's that's the meaning. And it's an adjective. It's not a noun. It's not a treasure. It's an adjective in the Greek. And it describes something that is good and valuable.

And in Paul's day, when you use this word, it describes something beautiful and fine, something of high quality, a precious stone. In fact, some translations there in verse 14, where you see good thing, it says good deposit, good deposit.

And the good deposit that Paul is talking about.

Is the gospel treasure,.

The crucible of treasure that was imparted to Timothy that is made up of of eternal and priceless biblical truth that results simply by faith in the forgiveness of sin. And just see when you begin to parse out what the significance of the gospel church, we can do that.

You can have an open book test. It is not just about salvation, is it? It is not just about eternal life, is it? It is not just about the forgiveness of sin, is it? It is not just about Jesus paying the penalty for our sin.

It is also about him shedding his precious blood, right? For atonement, you can go on and justification being declared innocent when we're guilty. What are you talking about? I'm guilty, but God is going to look upon me as being innocent.

That's justification.

I'm still guilty, but he's looking at me.

Like I'm innocent. Hallelujah. That's the gospel treasure. That is this good thing. It is an adjective. It is priceless. It is redemption.

It is the pearl of great price that the man who owned the field sold. What? Everything he had. Remember that? To get that pearl of great price. That's what he's talking about here. This gospel treasure has been deposited by Jesus Christ for safekeeping with the church.

What does that mean? With people like you and I. Do you understand? God has given us a treasure.

And he's saying, what? Keep it. It's been deposited with you. Guard it. Know that it is a treasure.

And Paul's reminding Timothy of this. The glorious gospel treasure, the forgiveness of sin, salvation by grace through faith alone has been deposited by Jesus Christ with the church. And believers are to keep and to guard this priceless treasure.

Don't look at a president or a legislature or a governor for what's going on in this country. We have to look at ourselves first. Are we guarding the gospel? Do we know even what the gospel is? So how was Paul charging Timothy to hold fast the pattern of sound words?

Right. That's what we see in verse 13. How is he charging him to guard this good thing, to keep or guard this good thing? And how should Christians today respond to this charge? First of all, if you have your notes by comprehending the urgent need to guard the gospel.

It's like the sign, right? You're driving down the road, bridge out. You're driving. Hey, honey, you know, she's on the phone. She's telling you, make a left up there. Make a left up there, honey. Half a mile.

Make a left. Right. She's got the phone out. Ladies, you're doing that. Right. And then the phone says in 200 feet, turn left. Right. And then you turn left. There's a big warning sign. It says bridge out.

What do you need to do? Pay attention. Amen. Amen. I don't even see you shaking your head. Come on. OK. The first way that you fulfill this charge is by understanding and accepting this urgent need. This is where it all starts.

Right. How was Timothy to respond to this charge to hold fast the pattern of sound words, this charge to keep this good thing? Number one, he needed to comprehend and he needed to accept this urgent charge.

And see, this is immediately obvious in the context of what we're studying. Right. He's a pastor in the church at Ephesus. Right. We know that he was not holding fast the pattern of sound words. He was not keeping the good thing that had been committed to him by the Holy Spirit.

How do we know this? Because we know when we read the letter that he'd become timid and afraid. We know that he had become embarrassed and afraid about the circumstances of Paul's imprisonment, where Onesiphorus hadn't.

Right. Remember, verse 16, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refresh me. And by the way, not like you, Timothy. He was not ashamed of my chains. He was not afraid of my chains.

He actually visited the prison. Timothy, where are you? Are you with me? You think Timothy was having a problem with this?

Yes, he was.

So we also know that the need of the gospel was obvious. Look at verse 15. Look at this. How would you feel? This, you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes, believers, disciples of Jesus Christ, people Paul had perhaps led to Christ, people to whom he had preached the gospel, people whom he had taught and grounded in Christ, all who were in Asia had turned from him.

And see, the urgent need to guard the gospel was present in the early church. The same urgent need exists today. And there's three reasons in this letter why we've touched on some of them. One, why did Timothy need to comprehend and accept and obey this charge?

Number one, and why do we? Because we know from Scripture, the Bible tells us that in 2021, what year are we living in? 2021. Where 2021 is located on the timeline of history is what the Bible calls the last days.

Right. That's one reason. Timothy was living in the last days. Why should he heed this charge? Because he was living in the last days. Number two, Scripture teaches that the general overall condition of the human race will continue to proceed from bad to worse.

Right. And now reason number three. The Scripture also warns that generally speaking, God warns that in general, the overall spiritual temperature, please listen, of the church will grow colder in 2021 than it was in 2020.

John, are you talking about you and I living today? Yeah. When I say the church, I'm talking about Christians. See the coldness, understand coldness and drifting away from a pure devotion to Christ, of loving God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength.

So everything else in life pales in comparison to our devotion to Christ. It takes on a lot of forms. For one, people in the church will fall away. They will become apostate friends. They'll actually walk away from the church.

Look at first Timothy four, one first Timothy four, one. Now, the spirit expressly says that in the latter times, last days, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

The word depart there is the Greek word where we get the English word apostasy. Did you hear me? Apostasy. I don't have time to chase this all the way down. This isn't salvific, meaning when he says depart the faith, he's not talking about losing your salvation.

Understand that true believers, those who are truly born again, are indeed they're changed, right? If they're truly saved, once saved, and that saving faith is demonstrated by an ongoing obedience to scripture, once that person is saved, no one can snatch them out of Jesus's hand.

Right. But understand that true saving faith is demonstrated by the life that we live. So don't say I'm a Christian and sit there and do whatever you want with your wife and whatever you want. Oh, I'm a Christian.

I'm once saved.

I walked. I got baptized.

I can live however I want. That's that is a lie from the pit of hell. OK, true believers persevere to the end. They're obedient. Hey, they're not perfect. Just talk to me. Don't talk to my family. Talk to me.

Don't talk to my family. I already lost in and out. I want to have dinner sometime. This is talking about sheep and goats. This is talking about people in the church. There's sheep and there's goats. Now, you may not recognize a goat.

This is talking about wolves in sheepskin clothing. They look like sheep. They sound like sheep, right? They even smell like sheep, but they ain't sheep. This is what Paul says vessels to honor and dishonor.

You know what else it is? It's wheat and tares. God explicitly, explicitly says in the last days in that period of history, when Paul wrote this letter and from that point in history all the way up until the days in which we live, some will fall away, some will depart or abandon the faith.

If you do a study of the cults, they are made up of apostates. They are made up. We have one right down the street. I'll never forget the first time she was talking to me. Oh, yeah. I grew up a Baptist.

She's a Mormon. She's married to a Mormon. They go, they go to that building every Sunday. They give to the poor. I mean, I will never forget. She goes, you know, they're all the same. I mean, what am I supposed to say?

Well, not actually, they're not. But I said, yeah, I understand. So the Bible clearly teaches and warns that in the last days, a kind of apostate church, I'm using quotes, an apostate church will arise in which men and women will be religious.

They'll be religious. They'll talk about God. They'll talk about Jesus. They'll sing. You can go to a Mormon temple and they will sing some of the same hymns we sing. I've been they will have a form of godliness, but they will deny the power.

So how would the church generally grow colder? For one, people in the church will fall away. They'll become apostate and friends. They'll walk away from the church. Now, Second Timothy, chapter three, one.

Second Timothy, chapter three, one. The need to guard the gospel, to stand firm in the faith is demonstrated that as the return of Christ draws nearer, people will hold to a form of godliness. Know this in the last days, perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Here it is having a form of godliness, but denying its power from such people turn away. See, there are people inside and outside of the church. They will look good. They will look moral. They may smile.

They may say, have a nice day. They may have some kind of morality, but they will not have a reverence for God as it's revealed in Scripture. And what happens is, listen, what happens is having a form of godliness, but denying its power, the holiness of God, the righteous judgment of God, eternity in hell rather than eternity in heaven, that kind of leaven cools the church.

In the last days, people in general, some may be religious, others may not. In reality, the Scripture warns that they will be, listen, more, less, and less godly. And if you ask anybody that is over the age of 50, they will stand up here all morning and testify that that is exactly what is going on in our culture.

Amen? I can call up every single one of you, every single one of you over 50, and you will testify with your hand on the Bible the kinds of things that are going on in the world today.

I never thought I would see today, right?

Luke says, please listen, Luke says, as in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. Can you imagine? Do I have to? Can you imagine living in the days of Noah? Because remember, the Scripture says Noah was a preacher of righteousness, right?

So he's building this ark and people are walking along. What are you doing? Building an ark? What for? Well, God's going to destroy the world. Y 'all are wicked. You need to repent. God's going to, what are you talking about, man?

There's no water around here.

It's never rained. You understand that, right? Up to this point, it had not rained because we had a certain type of atmosphere before the flood that differed after the flood. Can you imagine this? I'm building an ark because God's going to destroy the world.

What are you talking about? You crazy man, right?

You better repent. This goes on for 40 years.

You better repent.

And then what? It was too late. Go to second Peter, chapter three, second Peter, chapter three. Third, in the church, as in the days of Noah, they mocked, they mocked, as in the days of Noah. There will be a mocking and denial of Christ.

Second Peter is just like second Timothy. It's his last will and testament. Peter is on death row also. And look what he says, second Timothy, chapter three, verse one. I now write to you, beloved, I now write to you, this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where's the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. The early churches try out of great hope. Paul's try out of great hope. One aspect of any Christian's great hope is the return of Jesus Christ.

It's not just eternity heaven. It's not just justification, redemption, sanctification. It's Jesus coming again. Hallelujah. First John. First John, two, just over a page. Verse 18, little children, it is the last hour.

And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrist have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. And by the way, if you have a computer and you're wondering about this, Google Antichrist.

They're all over church history. They're in India right now. I'm Jesus Christ. I'm the incarnation. There have been men who have rised up and said, I am the second coming of Jesus Christ. There was one very popular 15 years ago.

He was on TV. He had an Internet church. He drank wine. He drank booze. He had women around him. I'm the second coming of Christ. And people believed it. Look at this. They went out from us. Oops. You mean from the church?

Yeah. For if they had been of us. I'm sorry, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us. They would have continued with us. In other words, they would have persevered. They would have continued to walk in obedience.

But they went out. That they might be made manifest that none of them were us. See, how important is it to remain alert and to guard the gospel in the early church some 1900 years ago? For the last 1900 years, there's antichrist in the world and in the church, beloved.

God warns us throughout his holy word. We have to be alert. We have to be on guard. In the first century, there were many antichrists in the world today. There are many antichrists. They often get a start in the church.

They appear to do miracles. They're great teachers. They're I mean, there's people, there's guys, man. They're just magnetic in their personality, right? I do not have that gift.

There's guys.

You just cannot believe how smooth they are. And everybody loves them. They just they don't have any rough edges. They're so smooth. A lot of them have on TV right now. They ever turn on Christian television today.

Boy, these guys are amazing. They're taking in millions of dollars a year. We climb in our ninety three Dodge pickup. Amen. Amen. Here's the faith truth we need to cling to. Believers can stand firm in the last days and be actively guarding the gospel.