In this lesson we will move away from our "unlearning project", where we have been moving to make sure that we are no longer captured by the devil's lie that is so often the subject and the text of the sermons that we hear on a weekly basis. We are now ready to move into the truth of the Word of God and begin to preach and teach the gospel which is the only thing that will point any person to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Allow me to say right here that our problem, (the problem of false preachers, preaching a false message) is not something that just recently began to occur. No indeed, False gospels, which are no gospel at all, have been preached since the Lord arose from the grave and ascended back into heaven.
In fact, the Epistle of Jude which, was probably written around 65 A.D., tells us that even at that time, " certain men had crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
The apostle Peter had warned of their coming and now in the little letter from Jude, we find that they have actually arrived and they have been here ever since. (see 2nd Peter 2:1-3). Our Lord, Jesus Christ, warned us continually during His Walk here on the earth, that we should beware of false prophets. ( preachers, teachers, pastors, or anyone who takes it upon himself to teach the Bible).
Now, I wasn't born yesterday; and so I know for sure that people in our time want to believe that all of our pastors and teachers are men who have been called by God to teach us His Word and Will; and I know that they all appear to be teaching us from the Bible; however Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear that they are not all either called or equipped to teach us God's truths.
Jesus Christ preached in the Sermon on the Mount, there in Matthew chapter seven In the verse where Jesus warns us that because the gate is strait and the way narrow that leads to heaven, that only a "few" would enter in thereat. (Matthew 7:13-14). Then in the very next verse Jesus warns us to beware.beware of what? False prophets.because they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Jesus said we must really be on guard against the minions of the devil; because they come to us looking just like us.
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Just like the sheep of Jesus pasture, however they are not sheep, but rather wolves. That warning from the lips of Jesus should be sufficient to convince us; but He must not have thought we would hear it; because Jesus says in that same sermon, there in verses 21 -23, that there would be many on judgment day who had been preachers and pastors and teachers and the like who would call Him "Lord, Lord,; but he said not all of them that said things like..they had prophesied in His name, and in His name cast out devils, and in His name done many wonderful works: but they would not go to heaven..instead they would hear Jesus profess to them.
"I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Those verses there in Matthew 7, is talking about church leaders, our Pastors and Preachers and Teachers.and Jesus said that all that they did as they Preached and Taught here on the earth was iniquity, because they did not preach the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. Now I hope you will research the scriptures that I give you in these lessons; because time or space will not allow me to explain every scripture.
You need to check everything you hear or read against your copy of the Word of God, the Bible, so you need the exercise. Jesus warns against false prophets etc, in the following scriptures..Matthew 15:9, 13-14; Matthew 24:4-5; Luke 11:35, 52; Acts 20:29-30; Romans 2:19-21;1stCor. 3:10-11;2ndCor. 2:17; 2nd Cor. 11;3-4,13-15; Galatians 2:4; Ephesians 4:14;Colossians 2:4,8,18; 1st Timothy 1:3-4,6-7,19; 1stTimothy 4:1-3,7; Hebrews 13:9; 1stJohn 4:1-3; Revelation 2:2; and I could go on and on, but if these verses won't convince you then you probably won't ever be convinced.
I want to leave you in this lesson with the wonderful and amazing "Good News of the Gospel, and that is that our God is Sovereign, He is Gracious and He is Merciful. God is all and in all of our salvation. We are saved by Grace through Faith and both of those are gifts from God in our salvation.
We are saved by believing the Word of God and so I would encourage you to Look to the Word of God which will point you to the Cross of Jesus Christ. You have nothing to do in salvation except to really hear what God is saying to all of us. Again, let me say that these lessons are not meant to be critical of every one of our visible churches, they are pointed at preachers, pastors and teachers who wittingly or unwittingly preach a perverted gospel.
By perverted gospel, I mean any gospel that adds to or takes away from the truth of the Word of God. Any Gospel that leaves out anything that God has said, and any thing that adds something to the truth in order to make it acceptable to the sinners in their congregation. Everyone should know the Bible well enough to know that men cannot decide when and where they are going to be saved.
Men can and do join various church groups; but that only makes them church-members. Everybody should know that God hates sin and will punish sin, no matter how cozy some preach our lack of power to walk without sin. If God cannot give us the power to walk like Jesus, He has given us something to do that we cannot do. God has given us His power in the Holy Spirit to walk in such a way as to please Him.
We only move toward God as we learn and understand His Word, so what we need to do is to make time and make the effort to learn for ourselves what God has said to mankind.
Think about that until next lesson.this is Bro Bob
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