Fruit not Gift — Zac Poonen

Do you know that Jesus spoke to 5 ,000 people without a mic?

I've always wondered how he did that.

He must have had a very powerful voice.

These are the little things we don't think about when we read the Bible.

Do you know what 5 ,000 people means?

It's ten times the size of this hall.

And it was actually more than 5 ,000, it was 10 ,000 perhaps because 5 ,000 were just the men.

And do you remember on the day of Pentecost when 3 ,000 people were converted?

So how many people do you think were there listening to it?

There may have been 10 ,000 there also.

So Peter also had a very powerful voice.

But we are all such weaklings compared to those early apostles.

Anyway, more important is to discern

the voice of Paul Shepherd.

I said in the morning how, you know, we would never allow a

deceiver to speak to our children.

So why does a loving father allow deceivers to come into the midst of God's people?

The devil is pictured in the Bible like a lion and like a snake.

Lion speaks about strength and power.

That is one way he troubles the church with persecution.

But in the history of Christianity, persecution has

never destroyed the church.

In the first 300 years of Christianity, God allowed tremendous persecution of Christians.

And wherever there was persecution, there was a pure

church.

Whenever there is, you know, if a person becomes a Christian in a country where there is

tremendous hatred for Christians, like a

communist country or a Muslim country,

where you become a Christian and they may kill you,

you can be sure that such Christians are very strong Christians.

A Christian who is really converted in such countries, such people, when they come

together, can be a very strong church.

But in India, generally speaking, we have no persecution, particularly in South India.

And so, it doesn't really cost us much to be a Christian or to come to a meeting.

We can't say the devil comes like a lion in Tamil Nadu.

Where do you hear of Christians being killed or persecuted in Tamil Nadu for standing up for Jesus

Christ?

That is happening maybe in China today.

So, there are some strong Christians there.

So, Satan has come into Tamil Nadu not as a lion,

because the church will become strong here.

And his aim is to weaken the church.

And he has seen through the years that coming like a lion never weakens the church.

We may think, oh, we are so lucky that we don't have any persecution in Tamil Nadu.

But that's why we have such poor quality Christians.

And that's why we have so many preachers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Kerala, who are

only interested in making money.

You won't find one preacher like that in the house churches in China.

They don't preach to collect money there.

So, you see, that's the advantage of persecution.

But here, the devil comes like a snake.

With deception.

And through deception, he corrupts Christians and leads people astray.

Why does God allow that?

Because that is how his children can have discernment and sharpen their

senses.

That is how his children can have discernment and sharpen their

senses.

Let's look at some verses.

First, 2 Thessalonians 2.

This is something that's going to happen in the days just before the arrival of the

Antichrist.

He's speaking about, verse 1, about the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering

together to Him.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1, he speaks about the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together to

Him.

Then, in verse 3, we read about Satan, the son of the devil, a sinful man.

With power and signs and false wonders.

With all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they

did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

And now see the reason.

For this reason, verse 11, God himself will send

a deceiving influence so that people believe what is false.

Just think of that statement for a moment.

Will a father allow his children to believe what is

false?

How many of you fathers and mothers will allow your children to believe what is false?

Will you allow a deceiving influence to come to your children so that they get deceived and believe

a lie?

Why does God do it?

Because God is trying to find out who really wants Him for

Himself.

Not who wants Him because they want some blessing.

There are believers who seek God for His blessing.

Who pray only when they want something.

Who ask for prayer when they are sick or when they are in need.

How many of you believe in spending time with Jesus when you want nothing?

You know when a very happy married couple live together.

They talk to each other not because they want something.

Our relationship with Jesus is like that of a wife to a husband.

A girl who is engaged to be married to a man.

The marriage will take place when Jesus returns.

But now we are supposed to be like a girl who is engaged to be married.

But now we are supposed to be like a girl who is engaged to be married.

When you look at the reason why a girl wants to marry a

man.

You have arranged a marriage for your daughter.

Ask yourself what did you look for in the man you wanted your daughter to marry?

Most people in this country whether believers or unbelievers look for somebody who can

earn a lot of money.

They say I want a very educated person for my daughter so that she can

live a comfortable life.

Not someone who is really spiritual.

Even when you look for somebody as a wife for your son.

Even when you look for somebody as a wife for your son.

They look for someone who has a good education and comes from a rich

family.

This is the main reason for so many unhappy marriages.

Because they are looking for the wrong thing.

See I am also a father.

I have four sons.

All of them are married.

And I can stand before God and say something.

I was not interested one bit to find out if the girl's parents had

any money at all.

I didn't even know who their parents were.

What they had or didn't have money didn't interest me.

And is the girl educated, highly educated?

No interest.

Does she love Jesus?

Does she want to live for the Lord?

That's the only thing I look for.

So all my four sons have got very happy marriages.

And they will bring up their children in the same way.

I would recommend that to you.

Now I am applying that to our marriage to Jesus.

Do you want to marry Jesus because of what you can get from him?

That is the way to an unhappy marriage with Jesus.

You know a girl who wants to marry a man because I can get something from him?

Those are the people whom the devil can deceive very easily.

What can I get from the Lord?

That's not the right way to get married to Jesus.

So God allows such people to be deceived.

And I tell everyone sitting here.

If you love Jesus because he gave his life for you

and you say, Lord I want nothing from you.

I don't want healing.

I don't want answers to prayer.

I don't want money.

I don't want you to answer a single prayer of mine.

I love you because you love me and gave yourself for me.

That is how I gave my life to Jesus 55 years ago.

I said, Lord I don't care whether I go to heaven or hell.

It makes no difference to me.

I want to be with you wherever you are.

And I don't care if you don't answer one prayer of mine in my whole life.

I'm not like a girl marrying a man for his money.

I will not be like that.

I'm not going to marry a man because he's got a very high position and power.

That is the secret of a happy marriage with Jesus Christ.

And now my relationship with Jesus has been for 55 years.

I'm an extremely happy person today.

I have zero complaints about my Christian life.

And the Lord has protected me from so much of deception going on in Christianity.

Wrong attitudes to money among preachers.

Wrong teachings.

Because I did not come to the Lord for anything for myself.

So if you want to recognize the voice of the shepherd from all other

voices.

Ask yourself, why did you come to the Lord?

Why did you become a Christian?

Why have you given yourself to Jesus Christ?

Supposing from today, the Lord says, I will never answer any prayer of yours from today.

You ask and I will not answer.

But I love you, that's enough.

And I want you to love me.

And I want you to give all that you have to me.

And I'll give nothing to you.

Will you follow Jesus?

I'll say yes.

You know why?

I'll say, Lord, you already gave yourself to me on the cross, why do I want anymore?

You know, it's like, this is the way I look at Jesus.

When I was a desperately poor man, this wonderful

person gave me 100 crores of rupees

cleared my debt.

A man who has given me 100 crores of rupees as a gift

will I again go to him and ask for money?

Give me 100 rupees, give me 1000 rupees.

Never!

He's already given me 100 crores.

You will feel ashamed to go to an earthly man who has given you 100 crores and again ask for money

like a beggar.

I'll say, I'll tell him that such a man, you've already given me so much, I don't want anymore.

That's how I go to Jesus.

I say, Lord, I don't want anything from you.

You gave me more than 100 crores when you gave your body for me on the cross.

That is the problem with many Christians.

They don't want anything from you.

They have not appreciated what Jesus gave for them on the cross of Calvary.

They sing about it, they talk about it, but they haven't appreciated it.

For me, that is the central thing that Jesus did for me.

Many people talk about, the Lord healed my sickness.

The Lord provided my needs.

He saved me out of some difficult situation.

You know what my testimony is?

He died for me on the cross.

That is such a big thing that any other thing he gives is like a little grain of sand.

If he heals me of a hundred sicknesses, and provides

me one lakh rupees every month,

it will be like a grain of sand compared to what he did for me on the cross.

Have you seen Jesus like this?

I tell you, you will never be deceived in your whole life.

It is in a love relationship with Jesus Christ that we are protected from deception.

If you keep going to Jesus only to get things and get things and get things, if

you keep going to Jesus

only to get things and get things and get things, and if your testimony is that the Lord did this to

me, did that to me, did this to my children, did that to that child, you

will never be able to recognize the voice of the shepherd.

Like we read in 2 Thessalonians 2, when miracles and

signs happen there, you will be deceived.

It is said that in the last days, the devil will do a lot of false miracles.

So when someone does a miracle, how do you know whether that is the devil or Jesus

Christ?

You say, well, he does it in the name of Jesus.

Let me show you Matthew 7, where Jesus himself warned us.

He said in verse 15, beware of false prophets.

They come in sheep's clothing, but they are ravenous wolves.

They come in sheep's clothing, but they are ravenous wolves.

Do you know what sheep's clothing means?

If you say that they come in sheep's clothing, it is the correct teaching.

When we say sheep, we are referring to Christ, and when we say ravenous, we are referring to the devil.

They look like the disciples of Jesus.

But when they speak, it is the voice of a wolf.

So if you only look at his doctrine, he is talking about Jesus.

He believes that Jesus died for the sins of the world, and he

preaches in the name of Jesus.

So whatever he does must be from God.

But he is a wolf inside.

So when a wolf dresses up like a sheep,

think of a real wolf who is dressing up like a sheep.

And he is trying to go inside the sheepfold with the other sheep.

And he is trying to go inside the sheepfold with the other sheep.

Why does he think he is going there?

To bless the sheep?

No, not at all.

He is trying to deceive the sheep so that he can bite and eat

them.

He knows that if he comes like a wolf, the sheep will run away.

So he puts on the sheep's clothing, looks like a sheep,

but his aim is to grab something from the sheep's body and eat it.

Whereas a real sheep is not there to bite and eat something from the other sheep.

And a shepherd also is not really interested in getting something from the sheep or himself.

So this is the way to recognize a false prophet.

It's Jesus' own words.

He will come with the right doctrine.

He will not come in the name of some other religion or some other God.

Because that won't be sheep's clothing.

He will come in the name of Jesus.

But he will be interested in what he can get from you.

Primarily your money.

Second, that you should follow him and join his group.

He is not interested in blessing you.

He is interested in what he can get from

you.

And Jesus said that is the mark of a false prophet.

And Jesus said further down, it's very easy to

recognize them.

Verse 16, you will know them by the fruit in their lives.

Now the Holy Spirit gives us fruit and gift.

The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and miracles.

Gifts are preaching, miracles, healing,

those are all gifts.

Fruit are love, humility, joy, things like that.

Holiness.

So if you look at a person's gift, you will be deceived.

So if you look at a person's gift, you will be deceived.

The only way to find the mark of a true

prophet is, as it is said in verse 16, you can recognize them by

the fruit.

Sometimes we don't listen carefully to Jesus.

So he repeats it a second time in verse 20.

He said, listen to what I'm saying.

You will not know them by their gifts, you will know them by their fruit.

In spite of Jesus saying that twice, and not only twice,

here is a third time.

Read further down.

Verse 22.

In the last day, people will come to me and say, Lord, Lord,

and will tell me about all the gifts that they exercise.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy, casting out demons, not one or two miracles, many miracles.

And I will say to them, essentially he's saying to them,

you had no fruit of the Spirit in your life.

You had no holiness in your life.

There is sin in your life.

He doesn't say, you're telling lies that you did miracles in my name.

You think these people will have the boldness to tell Jesus, that they did miracles?

I've heard a lot of preachers who fool congregations saying, I did a miracle there and I did a miracle over

there.

Because they know we have no way of checking up what they did somewhere else.

But they can't stand before Jesus in the last day and tell such lies.

So what they said in verse 22 is absolutely correct.

Three times it says, in your name, in your name, in your name.

Notice that.

How did they preach?

In Jesus' name.

How did they cast out demons?

In Jesus' name.

How did they do miracles?

In Jesus' name.

Then why does the Lord send them to hell?

Now think of, this is many people mentioned in verse 22.

It's not one or two, many.

Thousands.

So supposing one of these people is today preaching in Chennai.

And he preaches in Jesus' name.

Some big Maidan.

And he casts out demons in your presence, in Jesus' name.

And in Jesus' name does many miracles.

How many of you will sit and watch that and say, Well,

perhaps this man may still go to hell.

Because I want to know what his attitude to money is.

I want to know what his attitude to money is.

I want to know whether he lives in holiness with his wife.

I want to know how he has brought up his children.

Why children?

Because children are the ones who know best how we live at home.

See, many of you are in the same church, but I tell you, you don't know how the other brothers are living in their home.

You don't know how upright he is in his office or factory.

Holiness is not in the pulpit.

When he says, you who practice sin.

Verse 23.

Where did they practice all this sin?

In the pulpit.

Not in the meeting.

Nobody practices sin in the meeting.

They were practicing sin in their private life.

Which the people, thousands of people listening to them don't know.

And that's what Jesus exposes to them.

So for the third time, he is saying, for the third time, it's not by their gifts,

but by the fruit that you know a true prophet.

So we are trying to think in these days, how to recognize the voice of the shepherd and the voice of false teachers.

So what do you learn from this passage?

Three times.

Not by their gifts, but by their fruit.

They may also have gifts.

Jesus had more gifts than anybody else.

But that was not the important thing.

It was the fruit of his life.

For how many years did Jesus have the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Only after he was baptized.

Three and a half years.

Before that, he never preached, he never did a miracle, he never cast out any demons.

Only from the age of 30 to 33 and a half, he did so many exercises, the gifts

of the spirit.

Now, for how many years did Jesus manifest the fruit of the spirit?

Holiness, love, humility, for 33 and a half

years.

Now picture this in your mind and do a simple mathematical

calculation.

For how many years did Jesus manifest the fruit of the spirit?

Three and a half years of gifts.

33 and a half years of fruit.

Which is more important?

Fruit.

How much more important?

Ten times.

This is 33 years, that is 3 years.

So that's the difference.

And these things are written in the scripture for us to understand.

There is nothing wrong in the gifts of the spirit if it is backed up by a life full of the fruit of the spirit.

We need the gifts of the spirit, even Jesus needed it.

I sought for the gift of preaching when I was 22 years

old.

Or perhaps when I was 21, I don't remember.

I was baptized when I was 21.

And just like Jesus, after his baptism, the spirit came upon him.

I was baptized when I was 21.

I began to seek for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

And by the time I was 23, two years after my baptism,

God gave me the gift of preaching.

And by the time I was 23, I was preaching to 5 ,000 people.

And being invited again to speak again and again.

That was not me.

It was God who gave me that gift.

So I cannot take any credit for it.

And he has continued to give me that gift for 50 years now.

But that is not the testimony of my life.

Because in those early years, I never knew about how to overcome sin.

That while I was preaching, I could not have victory in my thoughts.

And I knew outwardly my life was okay.

But inwardly, I didn't have victory.

In my home, I would get angry.

But I had great gifts to preach.

So I know for sure, from my own life, you can be defeated in your home

and be a great preacher in public.

And after I was born again, for many years I was like that.

And it was easy to be deceived.

And I could deceive others because people thought I was a wonderful servant of God.

And if I had died at that time, I would have stood before the Lord and said, Lord, I preached in your

name.

I traveled to many countries and preached in your name.

And the Lord would have said to me, but your thought life was impure.

At home, you were getting angry.

What will I say then?

I thank God I didn't die then.

God had mercy on me because a time came in my life

41 years ago 40 years ago, 1974

I said, Lord, I don't want to preach anymore because I am fooling

people.

I am preaching something that is not true in my life.

So, I will still be a Christian, but I won't preach.

I will go and sit in the back of some church for the rest of my life.

I really came to that place only for one reason.

I did not want to be a hypocrite.

And I said, Lord, I ask you only for one thing.

I don't want money.

I don't want honor.

But make my inner life equal to what I speak.

And give me another filling with the Holy Spirit.

This time not for gifts.

I already have the gift of preaching.

Now I want the power of the Spirit to live a holy life.

And that's how God met with me nearly 40 years ago.

And that changed the direction of my life completely.

And it was six months after that that we started CFC in our home.

And we did not start CFC to preach the gifts of the Spirit.

But to preach to people that there is a life of overcoming that we can

have.

That you can live a Christian life where what other people see you on the outside is exactly the same

as you are on the inside and you are at home.

Zero hypocrisy.

Do you want that life?

Then you will not be deceived.

And it is after that that I began to recognize the voice of the shepherd very clearly.

And I began to recognize the voice of the shepherd very clearly.

And I began to recognize the amazing things God has shown me from His Word.

I knew the Bible thoroughly by the time I was 26.

Because I used to study it day and night, day and night, day and night.

But it was not the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

But when the Spirit of God saw that I wanted an equal life on the outside and

inside, then the Holy

Spirit began to speak to me new new things from Scripture.

Then I could clearly recognize this is the voice of the shepherd.

We are trying to understand how to recognize the voice of the shepherd from other voices.

I am trying to teach you some principles.

Here is one important thing.

Don't respect a man just because he has some gifts of the Spirit.

Miracles, healings, it may be all deception.

Even if he does it in the name of Jesus.

Much more important, is he a wolf or a sheep?

Is he interested in taking something from you, your money?

I will never listen to such a man.

I will never listen to such a man.

There are so many believers who listen to the CDs and DVDs of

people who are interested in their money.

Listen on the internet to people who are interested in their money.

I can tell you in Jesus name right now, you will be deceived and you will be more and more deceived.

I can tell you in Jesus name right now, you will be deceived and you will be more and more deceived.

Because you don't listen to Jesus words, that by their fruit you will know them, and not by their

gifts.

Three times Jesus says it, and you say, Lord, forget it.

I know how to take care of myself.

You think you know more than the Lord.

You think you know more than the Lord.

You say, no Lord, when I see a man's gifts, I will recognize him as a man of God.

When I see him casting out demons in Jesus name, when I see him doing miracles in

Jesus name, and preaching so powerfully in Jesus

name, I will admire him as a man of God.

It doesn't matter if he asks for my money, it doesn't matter if he says, if you give me

money, I will pray for you.

I will give him money so that he prays for me.

I will give him money so that he prays for my children.

Don't you think you are deceived?

Don't you think you are insulting Jesus by saying, I don't care what you said about wolves and sheep and all

that.

I know you said it is by their fruit, but I see gifts and that proves it to me.

I know you said that Satan will deceive people with lying false

wonders.

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 4.

John was writing this 65 years after the day of his death.

John was writing this 65 years after the day of his death.

He is 95 years old now.

In those days, there were so many deceivers even then.

This is not now in this century.

1 John 4 verse 1.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit.

Have you heard that?

Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

If somebody uses the name of another God, you don't have to test anything.

If somebody says, I am coming in the name of XYZ God,

you don't have to test anything.

He is not even coming in the name of Jesus.

Why even listen to him?

That is definitely a wrong spirit.

Why does he say, test the spirit?

If somebody gives you a white paper and says, here is a thousand rupee note,

you have to examine it with a microscope, is it a thousand rupee note?

It must be something important.

That is why the power went off.

So, you won't be deceived with white paper.

Something that looks like a thousand rupee note.

But if somebody gives you a paper that looks like a thousand rupee note, So, when it comes to

something that looks like a real spirit, you have to examine it.

Take that thousand rupee note, give it to the bank, put it in the curry and see if it is a real rupee.

If it is not, I want to return it to that man.

So, test the spirit because he is coming in the name of Jesus.

And, why do we have to test?

To see whether they are from God.

Because, not one or two, but many false prophets have already gone out into the world.

When was this?

First century.

He is writing to whom?

Believers.

He is not writing to the unbelievers, he is writing to the believers.

He says in verse 5, They are from the world, therefore they speak

from the world.

What do you mean by they speak from the world?

What is the biggest power in this world?

Money.

Everybody struggles for money.

If they want a position as a politician or some powerful position, it's to get money.

Why do they give bribes to get some important job as a police officer?

Because they are going to make a lot of money there.

So, all this world revolves around money.

So, I read it like this.

They are from the world, verse 5, because they are always speaking about money.

And worldly people listen to them.

So, by money you can make out who is a false prophet.

After the Bible was written, the first book,

Christian book that is available today

is a book written in the 2nd century.

It's a very small book.

It's called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

It's not written by the apostles because they died in the 1st century.

It's called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles written in the 2nd century.

That is the earliest Christian book

available after the Bible.

If you go to the internet and type it out, you can get it.

Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

I got it from there.

And I copied it down.

It's just 10 or 12 pages.

And I'll tell you what I read there and you can find it out for yourself.

In one of those pages, two marks of a false prophet.

One.

If his life does not back up what he preaches, he is a false prophet.

But very often you don't know much about his private life so you can't find out.

You know, some big preacher preaching in a Maidan, what do you know about his private life?

You don't know whether his wife is his first wife or third wife whether he is divorced two or three wives before that.

Then they give a second test.

If he asks you for money he is a false prophet.

This is what the apostles taught.

You know why?

Because nobody had a Bible in the second century like this.

So they can't say, hey, according to this you are not teaching correct.

So, we are simple believers those days.

Think if you didn't have a Bible how will you find out whether this is a true prophet or not?

So the apostles gave a simple test.

If he asks you for money he is a false prophet.

Have you heard anybody say that?

I tell you I may be the first person you have heard preaching that.

Where have you heard anybody say if somebody asks you for money he is a false prophet?

You go to the internet and type out the teaching of the twelve apostles and see if it is not written there.

And see which century it was written.

Second century, soon after the apostle John died.

Why did the apostles give such a warning?

They wanted people to recognize the true prophets from the false prophets.

And according to that teaching there are so many false prophets today.

And simple believers are sitting there believing it.

And these are not coming from heathen religions.

They are coming from within the so called Christian church.

Where do you think the antichrists are found today?

We need to understand what the word antichrist means.

Is that the translation in Tamil?

You see anti is not a Tamil word.

Anti is an English word which means against.

If I say I am anti Vincent I will never be.

But if I say that it means I am against Vincent.

Anybody who is against me can be called anti -Zack.

And what does antichrist mean?

Against Christ.

Or the opposite of Christ.

Christ is going this way this man is going the other way.

That is antichrist.

Who does the opposite of what Jesus does.

In many areas Jesus never asked for money.

I will give you another example.

Jesus saw a paralyzed man lying here

He lifted him up.

But today somebody will put the hands of man and make him fall down.

That is called anti what Jesus did.

Now most people will never call that antichrist.

Most believers say holy spirit.

I don't say holy spirit.

I say Jesus lifted people up this man is pushing people down.

It is very clear to me.

Antichrist.

So if you study the life of Jesus anything he did people are

doing the opposite of that.

That is antichrist.

People ask me sometimes Brother Zack Why don't you preach a

message on healing the sick.

I say ok.

I will tell you.

You read the new testament and show me one sermon that

Jesus preached on healing the sick.

He healed thousands of people.

But show me even one or two verses which he preached on healing the sick.

Show me two verses at least where Jesus preached on healing the sick.

Now show me one sermon the apostles preached on healing the sick.

You read the whole new testament Matthew to Revelation.

You will not find one sermon that Jesus or the apostles preached on healing

the sick.

Every sermon they preached was on holiness on

humility on love on faith on being

willing to suffer.

Those are the sermons Jesus preached.

If you are not preaching what Jesus preached that is antichrist.

I only preach what Jesus and the apostles preached.

But because today's christians don't read the bible properly

they are just amazed because they have a great need for healing.

You know the difference between Jesus and today's healers?

Listen to me Jesus never preached one message on

healing but he healed thousands.

Today's preachers preach thousands of messages on healing.

Hardly one person is genuinely healed.

This is antichrist.

Now if you don't believe me You please read the bible and see how many sermons Jesus preached on

healing.

It's difficult to find even one verse.

But I will show you numerous verses about holiness and faith

and humility and all that.

So if you don't want to be deceived.

Look for a preacher who is preaching the things that Jesus and the apostles preached.

That is the right way.

Then I want to show you something else.

Where do these antichrists come from?

1 John 2.

In 1 John 2.

1 John 2 verse 18.

Children it is the last hour.

Children it is the last hour.

In 95 A .D. He says it is the last hour.

Not the time.

Last hour?

In English it says the last hour.

That means only one hour left.

For Jesus to come.

Now 2014.

What shall we say?

I think it is the last minute.

Or perhaps the last 5 seconds before Jesus comes.

So it is the last hour.

You heard that antichrist is coming.

Even now there are many antichrists.

That's how you know it is the last hour.

1 John 2 verse 18.

Many antichrists have already arisen at that time.

That means people doing the opposite of what Christ did were doing it even then.

And where did these people come from?

Did they come from some Greek religion.

Or from some Egyptian religion.

Or the Roman religion.

No.

Verse 19.

They were in our midst.

And they went out from us.

So these antichrists were sitting in the church.

They were with us.

And they went out from us.

They were in our midst.

And they went out from us.

They were not interested in holiness of life.

They were not interested in a message of overcoming sin.

If they were interested in the message Jesus preached of overcoming sin.

It says here in verse 19.

If they had been of us They would have remained with us.

Because they would have been interested in victory over sin.

Apostle John.

He is about the only man left who is preaching victory over sin.

I want to stay with him.

Why did they leave?

All the other 10 apostles had died.

Judas Iscariot died much earlier.

John was the only man living.

Why did they leave him?

You read 1 John.

He is preaching about holiness.

He doesn't say one word about healing.

Or speaking in tongues.

It's about love.

It's about obedience.

It's about healing.

And it's about confessing that Jesus came in my flesh.

You read it.

And they left him.

And John says If they had been of us They would have stayed with us.

But when they went out That was to show That they are really

not part of us.

Then he goes on to say Verse 27 He says You got the

anointing of the Spirit within you also.

You don't need me to come and sit there And teach all of you.

Because I can't be all over the world.

That's what John says in verse 27.

You don't need me.

You got the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

And that Anointing will teach you As you listen to somebody.

This man is after my money.

That cannot be the Spirit of Christ.

This man is pushing people down Not lifting them

up.

That cannot be the Spirit of Christ.

This man is divorced and remarried.

That cannot be the Spirit of Christ.

This man says I will pray for you If you give me money.

I don't ever hear Jesus saying that.

This cannot be the Spirit of Christ.

I don't want to judge these people.

God is their judge.

But I am not going to follow them.

So I am not saying we should go around Judging all these people.

He doesn't say you must judge them.

He says you know from within.

This is not right.

Stay away from false prophets.

The voice of the shepherd Is the voice of Jesus Christ.

And the voice of the under shepherds Will sound like the voice of Jesus Christ.

Jesus came.

For what purpose?

One last verse.

Matthew chapter 1.

The first time the name Jesus Was used by anybody

In the gospels.

In the gospels In Matthew chapter 1

When an angel came to Joseph And said to him.

Your wife Mary Has conceived through the Holy Spirit.

Verse 20.

And you must call his name Jesus.

That's the first time in the New Testament That somebody speaks the name of Jesus.

First time.

An angel from heaven.

And he says Here is the meaning of that name.

He will save his people From their sins.

Not he will forgive their sins.

That is there in the Old Testament also.

But now he is going to do something more.

He will save his people From their sins.

He will save them from anger.

He will save them from lusting after women.

He will save them from jealousy.

He will save them from an unforgiving spirit.

He will save them from the love of money.

He will save them from Every type of sin.

That is the meaning of the name of Jesus.

So when you come in the name of Jesus When a preacher comes in the name of Jesus

It must be to save people from their sins Not to give them money.

Not even to heal them.

Even though healing is a good thing But primarily

To save them from their sins.

If you remember that you will never be deceived.

Let's pray Heavenly father Save us from

deception.

Your word Is like a lamp to our feet And a light to our path.

Help us to walk in that light In Jesus name.

Amen.