Sunday School - Partial Notes On Matthew 7

for everything that you do in our lives. We thank you for the activities over this weekend. We pray God that you continue to bless our services as we gather, as we come under the study of the word, as we come under the authority of the scriptures, that we would make all things happen to the communities of Christ.

We thank you, Lord, that this morning we will study the principles of the servant and the Son on your word, and we accept that.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, before we begin, in a couple weeks,

I'm actually going to be starting a systematic study of the Bible. But before we get there, I'm still working through what that's going to look like.

I'm going to be using some more insights into some of the notes that I have all over certain places in the scriptures.

And the way I typically build my notes is I'm always looking for the things that no one's talking about.

There's a lot of that in the scriptures. There's a lot of things in the Bible that no one talks about. And so I'm going to share with you some cool things that I found in Matthew 7 that people don't really think about or talk about or make connections.

And I believe that the Bible is a unique document. The Bible is a unique book. Because one, it's the only book in history that's under the inspiration of God.

Now, there's other holy books. You know, you've got the Mormon, who the Mormons think is inspired. Now, the interesting thing about Mormons, they even think that the

Constitution of the United States, the original Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence were drafted by the original fathers.

And that, too, was under the inspiration of God. But for a different kind of inspiration. There's a lot of cool things.

There's a lot of documents out there that are inspired in some way, shape, or form. But only one is true. Only the scriptures.

The kingdom of the Holy Bible, the 66 books of the scriptures, is inspired by God. 39 in the

Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. This is God's inspired text for the world. And so everything that we find in God's inspired work has a, what

I would call, like a web of connections. The scriptures are almost like the original internet when it came out.

You know, the web. The reason they call it the web is because everything had that interconnectedness to it.

It was a unique and innovative form of telecommunications.

But the Bible is the original web. It has all these connections that are intricately and purposefully placed together under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit. And so I want us to read together in Matthew chapter 7, verse 13 to 14.

Now this is, admittedly, it should be one of the scarier verses you'll read in the

Bible. I'm not sure why that's the case. But Jesus says this in Matthew 7, verse 13 to 14.

This is more or less phrased in the King James Version. Now, why is this a scary verse?

What does it teach about the state of man? That's right.

So other interpretations say broad and spacious is the way that leads to destruction.

Broad and spacious for why? And then raw is the way. And then most of the world thinks it's the opposite.

Most of the world thinks that what's broad and spacious is the way that leads to God and Heaven.

Right? So if you see those bumper stickers and cars, you'd be surprised it's still a thing. But they see bumper stickers and they have all the symbols.

And the idea behind this is very easy, which is it all has to lead to God.

Right? I've seen people who think they're Christians even think that. You know,

St. Harvey, a Canadian general, St. Harvey, he says some really great things about God in those scriptures.

He says some really encouraging things in the Acts. And I was like, you know, maybe this is a brother here. But in the end, also, he also ends up talking about,

I saw him here today, where he essentially says Islam is an acceptable act of God as well.

Right? And so you have all these evangelicals who will essentially say it's all tested to God, but the path

I have taken is the one that works for me. Now, is that livable? Is the path that works for you, which is the right path?

What this brings up is a divided culture and a divided world and a divided theology today, which is to say that some people believe that truth is malleable, that truth is subjective, rather than objective.

Can someone describe to me the difference between subjective and objective? The difference would be that even though subjective is relative, it's based upon your own perceptions, your own desires, in turn, for yourself, what is true.

For something that's objective, irregardless of the circumstances, it's true. Regardless of your personal feelings, your desires, and so forth, what's true is true.

That's right. That's right. Anyone else? Typically, it's a subjective, it's a place of emotion.

I feel. I like. I want. I see. These are all subjective emotions.

And there are things in life that are subjective. But then there are things that are objectively true, which is to say that they're true whether or not you believe it, whether or not you accept it, whether or not you see it.

Right? And so I had a college student that lived with me once. And they were going to a philosophy unit.

And I was sparring with them on philosophy, and they could not accept objective truth and reality.

And I said, you know, that only goes so far. Because if I employed you, and you thought you were making $20 an hour, but I'm only making $10 an hour,

I could say, well, I feel like I paid you $20 an hour. You know, you wouldn't like that very much.

And that subjective worldview would crumble very quickly in an objective world. Right? And so we cannot live life based upon emotion, based upon how we feel, based upon winds and waves of our subjective experiences, but on the truthfulness of God's Word.

And this is why this text is so important, because it says an important truth about the condition and state of man that most of humanity is heading down towards the path of destruction.

Most of it. The majority of mankind. And that's scary. That's frightening.

That's sad. That should motivate us, too, as Christians, to, one, make sure we're not on that broad and spacious road.

Two, also, to make sure that we are watchmen and proclaimers of this good news, which leads to the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

Right? So those are the two motivating factors that it should instill in us. One, that we be on the right road.

And two, that we help others also find that road that leads to life. Jesus, again, says, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.

Now, this also speaks, I think, greatly to the doctrine of election. Right? You know, election teaches just this, that the road to life is, in fact, narrow.

Few find it. It is only by God's good hand and sovereignty that anyone can find the path that leads to life.

Now, what's interesting is that there's a man by the name of Saul, many of us are familiar with his story, who was a wretched man, who was a man who believed that Jesus was strong to death, that Christianity was false, and that he was so zealous for his way that he persecuted the first God.

And this man was converted and became Paul, Paul Saul. Now, some of the interesting things about Paul is that Paul was saved on a straight street.

Now, there's some play on the word here. I want to share with you what the word of God's in Acts 9, verse 11 and 12.

This is at Paul's conversion. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called

Shrath. And inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of the

Parsis. For behold, he prays, and it's in the vision, and it's in the vision of man, and he arrives, and he's coming in, but he's in stand -up, and he's being persecuted at this site.

This is after Paul's conversion. The Lord puts him in the heart of a servant, and so, like Saul, who's almost now what

I think we would call an apostle, and he says to go find him. And what street would he find him on? Straight street.

Straight street. Like what? Like, why? That must be a quintessence, right?

As I said, there's no quintessence in the Bible. There's no quintessence in the Bible. Paul was to be found on straight street.

So Paul's crooked doctrines, his crooked lifestyle, his crooked ways were straightened on straight street.

That's pretty cool. Okay? You know, it's like, these are things in life that we would find transcendental, but the fact that the

New Testament author wrote this means that he knew there was a significance behind that, so much so that he included it in his scripture when he wrote it down.

Notice that Paul was converted to Christ on straight street. And notice what Isaiah 40, verse 3, says.

The voice of the Christ in the wilderness prepares you in the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our

God. You see, the way that leads you to eternal life is a straight path.

It's a straight path. It's a straight path that is narrow, but it's a path that is in Jesus Christ.

When we say it's narrow, it means there's only one way in. Now, Jesus says this to himself in John chapter 10.

Why don't you turn right here for a moment? In John chapter 10, turn to verse 1.

Jesus says this in John 10, verse 1. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs it by another way, the man is a thief or a robber.

But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hears his voice.

He calls on the sheep by name and he leads them out. He has brought out all that is fallen.

He goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure sees Jesus who is with them, but they did not understand what he was saying.

So Jesus again says this. Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

And then in verse 2 he says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out of my house.

Jesus says he is the door. What does he mean by that? Is he the door of the sheep?

These are some of the familiar I am statements that my wife makes in the scriptures. What is he trying to communicate here?

There is peace in Jesus being the way of salvation. He is the door.

He is the only doorway, the only walkway, that somebody can go through and actually find salvation.

That is what he is saying. That is true.

He also speaks as well about the matter of false teachers as well.

We have a problem in regards to what church they define as. People coming under, you know, our masquerade, bringing themselves to the sheep as though they are one of them, as though they are also those who have gone through Christ as well, gone through the

Lord, to be those who are going to pour in the shepherds of the flock and actually be their wolves.

That is what he points to, right? He does not enter by the sheepfold, by the door, by another way.

That is deeply wrong. You know what Jesus is saying? He is making a true claim. He is making an exclusive claim that he alone is the door.

If someone tries to make me by any other means, they are indeed a liar or a robber. There is no way that you can come into this narrow gate, narrow door, except through the aim.

That is why John 14, 16 says famously, I am the way, the truth, and the lie.

The way. He is the way. No one comes to the Father except by me. That is the exclusive truth of the aim.

Now, some may feel that this true claim by Jesus is not inclusive.

How would you respond to that? It is not. I would say it is.

I would say it is. Why? Because whoever they so come, right?

All who claim the Lord shall be saved. Jew, Gentile, white, black, Jewish, it does not matter who you are.

It is inclusive, but it is exclusively through Jesus. It is an inclusive invitation.

Exclusively through one man, Jesus Christ. And first of all, really, it is inclusive, and inclusive.

It is for everyone, regardless of gender, regardless of background, regardless of their sin.

And yet, it is exclusive, only through Jesus. He is the door, and He is the shepherd, the good sheep.

And so, He is the good shepherd, the sheep. And so, we have this encouragement here, and in Isaiah's prophecy, it says, that the way the

Lord is to make straight, is to make people straight, is to put them on the road that leads to life.

It is a desert on the highway for our God. And, in the desert, really, you know, it is an interesting phrase here, because in the desert, you can die very easily.

And so, the ancients that have these ancient roadways, so that they know if you follow this road, you will eventually get to civilization.

You will eventually get to water, to prosperity, to life. And if you don't follow this road, then you will deviate from it, and you will die.

Now, that makes sense in terms of what the Scriptures are certainly teaching. God has established a highway, established a road for us all, and if we deviate from that, we will eventually die.

We will die from malnourishment, we will die from lack of water, we will die from malnutrition, we will die from mold, there are so many things that we can eat, and that is what

Jesus is teaching us. I have sheep, my sheep listen, they follow me, they hear my voice, and I leave them in the way.

I leave them through the door, I leave them through the highway, the road that leads to life. Because He is that road.

He is that door. Jesus is the only means that God has made for us to be saved. So much so, the

Scripture teaches in Acts chapter 4, verse 12, that there is no other name given above in my life which may be saved.

No name. Now that's exclusive claim. It's exclusive.

So there's no salvation anywhere else by any other means, except through the finish and accomplish work of Jesus Christ.

Now that's good news. That's fantastic news, and it gets even sweeter in the sense that that's an invitation for you and for me.

Even for a man like Paul, who was a crooked in a lot of ways, and yet was saved on a straight street.

The crooked was set straight, and he was converted. Notice what it says in Isaiah 42, verse 16.

And I will bring the blind by way they do not know. I will lead them in paths that they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.

These things I will do unto them and not forsake them. Notice the story of Paul's perversions in Acts chapter 9.

Let's see if we find similarities there in the story. Let's quickly read

Acts chapter 9, verse 1. But Saul, still breathing threat and murder against the disciples of the

Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the city might bring them to Jerusalem.

Now as he went on his way he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. So rise and enter the city and you will be told what you are to do.

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground although his eyes were open.

He saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, neither ate, nor drank.

This is really good. First of all Moses said if you found people belonging to the way and what is the way?

The early description of Christianity was called the way.

Now as he went on his way to Damascus He to Damascus and he found people belonging to the

He to Damascus and he belonging to the way.

So he went on his way to Damascus people belonging to the he

Council will, by his own pleasure, that's how he saves, and that's how he determines the elect, is by the

Council's own will, that's in Ephesians chapter 1. And so, those who say that we can lose our salvation,

I think they shouldn't be too worried about it. In the Council past few months, we were talking about, you know, internal security, and most of the

Councils don't believe, or very few of them don't believe in the Council, most of the Councils don't believe in internal security. We need two totally different things, and we'll talk about that.

They said that you can lose your salvation if you truly don't lack it. But the good thing about the Council is not just that, as I was quoting to him the other day, you know, the light, the depth, the deep, the height, the depth of separation from the

God, nothing in all creation separates from the love of God, as from Christ Jesus our Lord. And he said, you know the only thing that that doesn't mention?

It doesn't mention you. You can still remove yourself from the love of God. And I said, what part of all creation did you not understand?

It doesn't say all creation, except you. Clearly, you are nothing to separate you from.

So that's just, that's just the ideology. Yeah. And so the truth is that we cannot lose, if you truly want

God's life, truly want God's children. It's like, you know, I think just the analogy, right? We are herded from son of man to son of God, and we preached about that this morning.

And can you unmake your child yours?

No. No. There's no way you can make your child not yours.

Right? Even if you put them for adoption. Even if you legally, if they are legally emancipated from you.

That is always your child. Nothing can change that. And so clearly, how much more so than God's life and God's children?

That God would say, well, I chose you. I liked you.

I saved you. But you disappointed me, because you're not my child anymore. Yeah.

Nonsense. And so, clearly, Arminian's regard to security is not biblical.

The word doesn't speak to the true loving kindness and character of our God. And so, similarly to the

Paul's character in Satan, therefore, we too are made straight after being crooked.

Our eyes are opened seriously to give to receive the service of life when we believe on Jesus. And we may not have seen some straight street, but it leads us to greater strength.

Amen? Now, part of what's interesting about this continuation, we'll look at verse 15.

It's right after Jesus hears this warning, this theology about this straight and narrow path.

He gives us a warning there. And then verse 15. He says, Beware of a false prophet, which comes to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly you're rounding wolves.

Now, what's the scary part about that verse? That these false prophets come in sheep's clothing, so you might not be able to throw some of your goods out of the park when taking a sheep.

Yeah. Now, that's important because, you know, a sheep, if it's a wolf, they will naturally flee.

Right? They will naturally flee. Similarly, if you've ever seen, like, movies or videos of, like, you know, green pasture sheep.

And you have the shepherd and you have the dog. And so the dog's job is to move in such a way that he's leading the herd in the right direction.

Because the sheep see the dog, and they're scared. So they'll go this way. Right? And so that's the job of the sheepdog, is to guide the sheep in such a direction.

Because the sheep are afraid of the dog because they think he may be better or may be more. Right? But what's scary about this is that this wolf is cunning.

This wolf has a camouflage. He has the outward appearance of a sheep.

But inwardly, he's a ravening wolf waiting to devour. So that's scary. That changes the dynamics of this quite a bit.

Which is to say, similarly to what Jesus says in John 10, the first opening verses, that those who enter the sheepfold by the door, who do not enter the sheepfold by the door, but by climbing in by another way, that man is a thief or a robber.

And so he's saying, essentially, if there are so many people in the Christian church, the Christian movement, who are going to come in in such a way that really they're ravenous wolves.

They're not your friend. They're not good teachers. In fact, they're false teachers and false followers.

In Jeremiah 14, 14, the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesied lies in my name.

I sent them not. Neither had I commanded them, neither spoke unto them. They prophesied unto you a false vision in their nation, and a thing of naught, and a deceit to their heart.

Now, what's interesting about the context of Jeremiah's work here, Jeremiah's prophecy, is that the prophets of Jeremiah's day, of Isaiah's day, of Ezekiel's day, you have these awesome prophets, and Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, were preaching judgment.

Now, no one likes that. No one wants to hear that. They just want to hear peace and prosperity.

And so the prophets of those days were preaching the gospel of peace and prosperity and saying, no, no, no, no, it's not going to be that bad.

We're making our lives to Egypt. We're making our lives to Syria. It's going to be okay. Don't worry about it.

And all the other folks were saying otherwise. They're just negative, busybodies.

You should stop. Right? And so what's more pleasing to the ear?

Judgment or pain? We don't know. We want to be reassured.

Listen to Jeremiah. He's kind of a crazy guy. You know, all of our forecasts show, you know, the economy is going to keep going up and up.

And it's all going to be so soon. But the truth is, it's always the prophets that are rejected because of the message.

Right? Similarly today, if we hear people, you know, economically, they say we're going to have a dangerous time.

Well, let's listen to them. You know, even though it's becoming more and more evident that they're, like, right. And so the prophets in Jeremiah's time, they were prophesying false visions.

They were prophesying the seed of their hearts, which is to say that what they desired in their hearts is what they preached.

Now, is that how we should preach? Should we preach based on the desire of our heart or the truth, objective truth of God's word?

See? An objective preacher or prophet will prophesy to you from his own heart the things that he desires.

From the heart comes all desire. And, but yet a preacher of righteousness will preach

God's word. He'll prophesy the word of the Lord, which is interesting because you find this phrase a lot in Ezekiel's prophecy, for instance.

Where the Lord says to the man, speak ye the word of the

Lord. Okay? He's saying don't preach your own heart. Don't preach your own denation. Don't preach your own dreams, your own thoughts.

Preach, proclaim, prophesy the word of the Lord. Very important.

We see, I don't know if I have it here coded, but I'm not sure because I think this is really important. If you go to,

I think I want to say it's Deuteronomy chapter 18. Yeah, Deuteronomy 18.

And verse, verse 20.

If you speak the word in my name, I have not commanded you to speak. But when you speak in the name of other gods, that is to the prophet shall

I. If you say in your heart, how will you know the word of the

Lord is not spoken? And the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord. And if the word does not come to pass, we're kind of sure that it's a word.

The word is not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of it.

So the Paul article in the Deuteronomy of the Lord distinguishes a true prophet from a false prophet.

And what's one way you can test a prophet? Or a test your faith? What's one way you can test a prophet?

Yeah. Like some prophets in England, what do they say? Because you're not vaguely from a period like, you know, what's it like?

An Austrian office. You talk about a journey in history. Oh, that sounds close enough, right?

No, I didn't just say Hitler. You know, I mean, I'm not in a rush for that. You know, Isaiah the prophet talked about a guy by the name of Cyrus.

And it wasn't Cyprus that showed up. It was Cyrus. Right? So that's more impressive to me.

Someone who has a true track record of what the prophets should be like. Like Isaiah. Like Ezekiel.

Like Daniel. But then you've got these other prophets who are just kind of like throwing words to the wind that maybe some people think and maybe not.

But if they process something and it doesn't come true, that's a telltale sign that they are a false prophet.

Now we see a lot of this in modern times. A guy by the name of, what was this guy's name? He wrote

A Harbinger. John McCain. Yeah. John McCain.

And he wrote a series of books. A Harbinger and a bunch of other books.

And him, along with John Hagee and others, a lot of contemporary human journals, were talking about this poor blood moons and this seven -year cycle of Shemitahs that are coinciding in the year 2015.

And I'll tell you what. I mean, I was sold. I'll tell you what. I've been at this society. I've been able to see the rapture.

I've been able to see some cool things. And the worst thing we got was a presidential debate with Donald Trump.

But the prophecies that they made prophesied doom in this case.

Did not. So unlike the prophets in your minds, these folks were actually selling doom.

And they'll doom Cain. Right? So it's kind of interesting to reverse the roles here.

But for sure, these guys' false prophecies. John Hagee wrote an entire book called The Poor Blood Moons.

I haven't heard that. I read it. I think I still haven't had it. It's a memento of false prophecy.

Okay? And so if the things that he said did not come true, what does that mean? False prophet.

False prophet. It's if they say something that doesn't happen. And then they just pretend like it never happened.

There's no apology. There's no repentance. They just all say it in Indonesia.

Very similar to the Tromel's Witnesses. The Tromel's Witnesses across the society have a little seven ties. Seven ties.

And it's in their literature. We can't make this up. The last time was 1975.

Okay? That was the last major false prophecy. They have September. They still kind of throw a lot of crazy stuff still.

The last major false prophecy was 1975. And they thought that the 6 ,000 -year mark of creation ended in the year 1975.

And so that it would make sense that God would usher in his millennial reign, the great jubilee, in the fall of 1975.

And that did not. And maybe the Jehovah's Witnesses grew from 1968.

They had less than a million members in 1965. By 1975, they had shrunk to 2 .1

million members. And one of the driving forces of that was because of their prophetic view that the world was going to end.

So a lot of people joined because they were afraid of not getting it. My mother was one of them. She was baptized in 1975 by the

Jehovah's Witnesses. And it's a major mark again. And she's still a Jehovah's Witness today. But what happens in the aftermath is that for five years, the

Watchtower didn't acknowledge in their literature a thing about that false prophecy.

It was in 1980, five years later, that they finally kind of said, Well, there are some of us who have wrong expectations of the world.

And the reason they had to make that decision is because then from 1975 to 1980, they lost over 100 ,000 members.

And so because there were never new members, they finally had to address it. But that's called a cyber false prophecy.

It's someone who prophesies falsely, and then they don't even have the humility to repent or to say how wrong about this is.

That prophecy came from the Watchtower organization, right? And they are supposedly

God's agent. That's right. And they meet the criteria in Deuteronomy 18 because they claim to speak on Jehovah's behalf.

Yeah. They claim to be God's spokesmen, right? I mean, they call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. Who are they witnessing?

Not Jehovah. After they take the actual name of God, they say, That's who we represent. So when they falsely prophesy, they meet the criteria here perfectly.

Yeah. Sarah? I was going to ask, there's a lot of false prophets who, if you feel like you say, Jehovah's Witnesses got smarter, a lot of false prophets don't prophesy specific things and you can test them to see if it comes true or not.

Can we still apply this Deuteronomy 18 test? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, and I think maybe an example of that would be when we find a lot of the charismatic movements.

Right? So, for instance, in the last election, all of my charismatic friends believed

Donald Trump was going to win the election. And the reason they did that was because there was a big prophecy from some guy in 2008, 2009, some

Australian guy who prophesied that Bill Gates was going to open the door of financial blessing to the church, that Donald Trump is going to be president.

And, uh, and, and yeah, it's, it's all of it. You look it up on YouTube. There's a guy who prophesied that.

So he got one thing right, right? Donald Trump became president, but then he would win two terms and that his second term, he would be more humble and he'd be a righteous man praying and all this stuff.

Uh, and so they were all convinced that Donald Trump was going to win the reelection because of that. Uh, he didn't win the reelection.

Well, it depends on what your views are, but he's not in office right now. He didn't win. And, uh,

Bill Gates still hasn't sent me a check. So, uh, the guy is a false prophet who said that, but all the charismatics really gravitate towards that prophecy.

Um, and you know, it's specific enough and also kind of vague enough where now what they did is they changed it and said, well, maybe we misintercept the prophecy.

Maybe Donald Trump will run again and then he'll win reelection. So technically the prophecy is still true and then we'll still give

Bill, uh, uh, you know, Bill Gates some time to write those checks for us. Um, and so it's just, it's, it's, you know, they just kicked the can down the road.

Similar, similar to the Harold Camping. You guys remember, remember Harold Camping? So Harold Camping was a guy who said, uh, locally here, actually

I believe he's from the Bay Area, right? And there are some churches around here that were associated with him and the family, what's it? Family radio?

Yeah. And he was prophesying that something, I think it was like what, May, May 23 of 2011, that the end of the world is going to come, that Bible prophecy proves on a shadowed doubt that the end of the world is going to come.

And, uh, and it didn't come. It didn't come. It didn't come from Harold Camping because he died a few years later. Uh, so the end did come for him, uh, but not for, not for humanity.

And, uh, well, you know what his followers do? Some people still follow his teaching. And what they do is that they spiritualized the events of May 23, 2011.

They say, well, Jesus did come in a sense. And this is what all the cults do. Uh, the

Jehovah's Witnesses did this in 1914. They believed that Jesus was going to return in 1914. He didn't.

Therefore, they changed the theology to say, well, he came spiritually. He came invisibly in 1914.

So now they have a whole theology based upon this because they don't want to admit that they're wrong. Right? So what they do is they spiritualize the meaning.

Like, oh, well, we were right technically, but we misunderstood an aspect of it. Uh, still, they, they meet the criteria.

They're on May 18. Their whole prophecy should not be, uh, followed. Is there sort of like a difference between, like, false prophets and false teachers?

Because it seems to me that is the case. Whereas, like, false teachers are those who, you know, don't necessarily preach against the message of the gospel, the spirit of the gospel, things of that nature.

False prophets don't necessarily go in that direction. It's like, it's simply to be a false, counter -future event that is a covenant that's actually happened.

And so, so is there kind of a difference between these two? Every false prophet is a false teacher.

Not necessarily every false teacher is a false prophet. Um, and so, you know, again, prophesying, um, when you, when you begin to declare things that have not yet happened, that's when you get into the territory of being a false prophet.

Um, and Jesus says in Matthew 24, 11, and many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many.

And so, boy, you know, we shouldn't be surprised that we see all these charlatans today, um, all this bad eschatology, all this bad theology surrounding the end times.

Um, and one of the reasons why it shouldn't surprise us nowadays especially, I think we have more false prophets and more false prophecy than ever before in human history.

And I think there's one really good reason for that. End time prophecy sells.

It makes a lot of money. Um, in the Christian categories of, uh,

Christian writing, prophecy is always like top two. So, when you look at the top selling

Christian books in the world, usually on the top two or three, you have a book about prophecy.

It sells. It makes money. You know, uh, most Christian movies still, they're still, you know, they're still making left behind movies.

Did you just saw that? They've got like, like, how many times a movie left behind now? Um, it is just crazy, uh, the amount of money that is made based on bad theology and false prophecy.

Um, and unfortunately most of evangelicalism is following false prophets and false prophecy.

And that's a scary thing. Um, bad theology and bad eschatology, uh, the fruit of it is, is quite, quite terrible.

Um, you know, first Kings chapter 13 verse 18, this would be our last verse for today. It says, and he said unto him,

I am, I am a prophet also as you are. An angel spoke unto me by the word of the

Lord saying, bring them back with you into thine house that he may eat bread and drink water.

But he lied unto me. So there'll be people who will come to you saying, I'm a prophet. God spoke to me.

The angel of the Lord came to me. Uh, it sounds a lot like Joseph Smith in some regard. Um, but we should not listen.

We must be, uh, we must be very careful. This should be a great reminder again about obeying God's commands.

Uh, in the verse, the verses of the commands of, the commands of men, when they attribute to God, such as Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Jim Jones, et cetera.

Anyone know who Mary, Mary Baker Eddy is? She said it is? No. Close enough.

That's elegy wide. Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian science.

So there's a, have you ever heard of the church of Christian science? Um, not to be confused with Scientology, nor to be confused with actual

Christians who are scientists. Um, Christian science was a cult that started early in the 20th century.

And, uh, it's a, it's a cult that teaches almost like a weird holistic view of the world and medicine and it's quite dangerous.

And, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's very cultic and she has, and she denies the divinity of Jesus.

She denied the Trinity. She denied hell. There's so many weird doctrines that she came up with. Uh, but she, she, these, all, all the folks that I have here all claim that there's so many more claiming to speak on God's behalf.

Charles James Russell, the Jehovah's witnesses. Um, obviously, um, uh, elegy white, the 17th church was called and it's still revered, uh, revered as a prophetess of the

Adventist church movement. Uh, Jim Jones, who was also a big area boy who led people to South America and killed over a hundred people.

Um, these are all false prophets that should not be followed. If anyone at any point, uh, comes to you in this pulpit or another pulpit and starts saying,

God spoke to me and you have to do X, Y, and Z, uh, either kick them out of the church or leave the church because that is a, that is, that is not how the word operates.

It's solo scriptura. This is how God speaks to us is through his word. So anyone who comes to you speaking another word other than the word should be rejected immediately and not even be entertained.

If somebody is evidentially a false prophet, is it by necessity a telltale sign that they're not truly a

Christian or that some of these incidents would be chalked up to the practice of behavior? That's a great question.

I think that, um, false prophecy is a sin, punishable by death according to their own painting.

Um, Jesus came to save sinners. And so can a false, can a, can a Christian be a false prophet?

Yes. They could be wrong. So in other words, can a

Christian believe in false things? Yes. We can be deceived. We can be deceived.

Um, but at the same time, uh, you know, so there's a, there's a, there's an interesting question that's coming up.

So in the, in the New Testament, in Acts 5, there's two people who get in really good trouble.

Remember their names? Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira. That's right. And they, they committed a big sin.

What did they do? That, that, that's numbers, but yeah.

They were filled with money. But more than that, what did they actually do? What was the sin that they committed?

They lied to the Holy Spirit. They lied to the Holy Spirit. Okay. So what happened to them? They died. They died.

Immediately. Right? They died. Now some people would say, well, that must mean that they weren't saved.

It doesn't say, we don't have any indication that it says. But they were disciplined immediately.

God took their lives immediately. Now we might find out that there's, they're in heaven right now.

They're believers. But God disciplined them. And sometimes we discipline this for nothing.

By taking one's life. It's, it's, we all belong to him. The souls of the father, the souls of the son, they all belong to the

Lord. Ezekiel 18. And so, so a Christian can, can be misguided.

And I think that the tall tale sign of someone who's a Christian, but has dabbled, has dabbled into false prophecy or false teaching, is that once, once confronted and shown if he repents, that's a sign of a

Christian. If he doesn't repent, that's a sign that you're probably not a Christian. Yeah. Even if there's somebody who displays a lot of passion and zeal for Jesus and so forth.

Anybody going to a crusade to change the world or something. You're still standing on a horse. I'm like giving this prophecy saying

God spoke to me and this is going to happen. Blah, blah, blah. Like they're still attempting something.

Yeah. Most likely you're not really a Christian. Even though you may be really passionate for Jesus. So we will, uh, if you can bring this sheet next week, uh, we're going to continue to go through and I've got some more pages for it too.

And again, we will be transitioning to a study of systematic theology. Uh, but for now we'll just keep going as those are.

Is this helpful for you? Is this, is this good? Yeah. Very helpful. Yeah. Okay. Well, let me pray. Father, we thank you for today.

Thank you, Lord, that you've given us this word to study. Uh, Father, help us, Lord, to, uh, uh, be on that narrow path, that narrow and straight path that leads you to real life through Jesus Christ.

Lord, help us to, uh, not join in with the masses. Uh, the masses that are delusion, uh, that are in the delusion of Satan, under the dominion of the prince of harmless air.

We pray, Lord, that, uh, we may not fall prey to the broad and spacious road, though appealing to the eyes and though broad and spacious and, and there seems to be a sense of freedom and liberty there as we frolic unto damnation.

Lord, we pray, God, that we would not do so, but that we would stay on that, uh, straight and narrow path that leads to life. We pray,

Lord, that you keep us from false prophets and false teachers. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.