False Prophets and False Tea..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We are going to be addressing the first sentence of verse 1 of chapter 2 of this letter, chapter 2, 2 Peter, the first sentence in which the apostle is going to speak about the reality of the existence of false prophets among the people, just as there will be. false teachers among you.

That's going to be the portion of scripture that we are going to be meditating upon together. But beloved of Christ, I'm going to invite you to please read together from chapter one, the beginning of chapter one, and we are going to finish and conclude our reading in verse three of chapter two. So let's read together from the beginning of chapter one all the way until verse three of chapter two. This is the inspired all sufficient and powerful words of our Lord." 2 Peter 1.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are establishing the truth that you have.

I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things." Verse 16. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed, and in their greed They will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their distraction is not asleep. Amen. This is the reading of the Word. May the Lord help us with the microphone, not to be a distraction.

You can hear my voice, right? Heaven. My attention was like 70% as I was reading. So just be with me, okay? Beloved of Christ, just be with me.

The person of Scripture that we are going to be reading is better addressing, as I said, is the comparison that the apostle is going to give us in the beginning of chapter 2 of false prophets that were among the people compared with the reality of false teachers that will be in the church. Beloved of Christ, now the chapter that we are starting here, chapter 2, is a very important chapter in the New Testament and in Holy Scriptures. Together with the book of Jude, this is something that you have to remember, together with the book of Jude, this second chapter of 2 Peter will speak to us and teach us about the nature and the reality of false teachers in the church. So that means that every time that a Christian or a person who studies the Bible wants to know what the Bible says about false teachers or false prophets, we are to come to 2 Peter and the book of Jude. Those two are going to be parallel passages that even are going to sound so similar as Peter is writing and Jude is writing, of course, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle is going to dedicate all of this whole chapter. Of course, the Apostle did not broke his book into chapters, but all of this portion of Scripture and the beginning of chapter three is going to be given to the church so that we will understand what false teachers are and what false prophets are. And you know, beloved of Christ, that the main goal of the apostle is precisely that, to warn the church, true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they will not be carried away by false teachers or false prophets that are within the context of the church, but rather they may grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are starting that section that the apostle and the Holy Spirit speaks to us and teaches us about false prophets and false teachers. And the way that the Apostle Peter has approached this topic or this thought of false teachers or false prophets is by first of all pointing us to the glorious reality of our salvation and the glorious reality of the vital role of the Word of God in keeping us until the end.

This is everything that I have been trying to teach you and communicate to you in the last months from chapter one, that we have a faith that is of equal standing, like the faith of the apostles who saw the Lord Jesus Christ. that we do not walk by sight, but we walk by faith. And the faith that we have in the Lord is of equal value as the faith of those who were with Him. And it's through that faith that we are not only forgiven, but that we enter into a genuine, spiritual, living relationship with the God of the universe that we were in enmity with. So that as children of God, through the faith that we have of equal standing with the apostles, we have everything that is needed for life and godliness.

And because we have everything that is needed, it's expected of us that to that faith that was a gift of God, we will add all the virtues that Peter explains to us so that we will be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by being fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not only have certainty of our belonging to the Lord, but we will endure until the end. And by enduring until the end, the doors and the gates of the kingdom will be opened for those who endure until the end and will be made partakers of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. That work of sustaining the life of the Christian starts for eternity past and goes into eternity future, and in the present is sustained and is nourished and is empowered by the ministry of the Word of God. a word that was given to us, not only by the holy prophets of the Old Testament, but it was also given to us by the ministry of the apostles.

And the witness that we have that the words of the apostles are true is that the Spirit of Christ was in them. So when they spoke, they were not only speaking truth, but the Spirit also manifested power through them. So then when you go home and read Hebrews chapter 2 verse 4, you will see that the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ was in the apostles, those who heard the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was testifying with the gifts and with these miraculous signs to the apostles so that their message would be testified, not only with truth, but also with mighty wonders and power. So the apostle Peter here is just making this argument to this thought, just as there were holy men of God in the old covenant for the people of Israel, who spoke prophecy that was a scripture. So also here you have an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who was with him and who has a prophetic word that is also a scripture that is fully confirmed.

So just as these holy men of God of the old covenant of the times of Israel were the messengers of God who spoke the words of God from God himself. So now you also have here in me and the apostles, the messengers to the church. So in other times in diverse manners and in different ways, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets. But in these latter days, on these last days, He has spoken to us through The son and the testifiers or better the witnesses of the sons are the apostles. So it follows that if the apostle has presented that holy word of God was given under the old covenant in the similar way that is given through the apostles, it follows that now he comes and tells us of the reality of the contrary, that which is opposed.

Now, beloved of Christ, remember that I said to you that this battle of salvation and redemption and condemnation, this battle of eternity is ultimately a spiritual battle. We're not battling against flesh or blood, right? This is a spiritual battle. But when it comes to the proclamation of the truth, but when it comes to the preaching of the truth, it's a battle of men. men who are carried, empowered and moved by the Holy Spirit.

Those are the ones that proclaim truth. And I battle against those men who are moved, empowered and carried by Satan, who are the false prophets of the Old Testament or the false teachers of the New Covenant or the New Testament. It follows that the reasoning of the apostle will be then in those lines. So that's why he says to us there in the beginning of chapter two that but as there were or as there arose false prophets among the people, There will be false teachers among you. Now, there is a comparison, you can see it there, right?

There is a comparison between the time of the Old Testament among the people of Israel that compare with the time of you, namely the time of the church. Very important. The apostle is going to compare Israel as the people of God with the church as the people of God. And this comparison says that just as there were false prophets among the people of God in Israel, there will be false teachers in the midst of the church. That is the only thing that I want to bring to your attention today, because, beloved of Christ, this chapter is going to break down the nature, the substance and all the qualities and manifestations of false teaching in a way that I have not seen yet, but that we will see it together by the Spirit of Christ.

It is so deep. We're going to speak about the judgment upon false prophets. We're going to speak about the workings and the teachings of false prophets. We're going to speak about the effect that false teachers cause in the midst of the church. We're going to speak about what the church does and is supposed to do in response to those false teachers.

All of those things are going to be given to us by the power of the Spirit in His truth and by the writing of the Apostle Peter here in this letter in the second chapter. What I want us just to do in this evening, this afternoon, with the help of the Spirit, is just simply address in a general sense this comparison that the apostle has given us in the first sentence of this chapter, too, so that we at least will see the use of the old covenant by the apostle. And then we will be able to break all of this doctrine and teaching of false teachers or false prophets in the church in a more detailed way. So beloved of Christ, you have the comparison in your mind is clear, right? He's comparing the old covenant with a new covenant, the existence of all false prophets and then false teachers.

What we're going to do is that first of all, I'm going to speak to you about the reality of false teachers in the church, the reality of it. Once we very briefly address the reality of false teachers in the church, I'm going to explain to you also briefly what a false teacher is. And then after we have addressed the reality of false teachers in the church and what a false teacher is, the third thing that we're going to do is that we're going to study the comparison that is given to us in the text. All people of the old covenant people of God compared with the church. You see the comparison, right?

You see the comparison there in that verse. These are the only three things that I want us to do. Just simply starting by speaking briefly from Scripture about the reality of false teachers in the church. Then we analyze and study from Scripture what false prophets are, and then we will get into the comparison that the apostle has given us. Now, beloved of Christ, I want you to notice that the language that the apostle uses in that first verse, he's not only comparing the people, the people of the old covenant, namely Israel, but he's using this comparison of all covenant or Old Testament, if you want false prophets.

And then he says that we will have false prophets, no false teachers. And he says that just as there were this is how I know the verse so you bear with me just as there were false prophets in the old covenant there will be false teachers in the church among you so now is this a question of if No, this is the reality of the existence of false teachers in the congregation. The Holy Spirit says that there will be false teachers among you. This is the reality, the parallel passage to this passage here in 2 Peter chapter 2 that you can read afterwards. There in Jude, of course, chapter 1 from verse 3 to 5, the apostle or better Jude says that he was concerned to write to the brothers about their common salvation.

He was going to write about the gospel, but I found it necessary to write to you. exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. And then he says in the next verse, for certain men have crept into the church unnoticed or unawares. They have got into the church unnoticed and unaware for whom or who are ready to receive the condemnation that was reserved for them. They deny the grace of the Lord and the Lord Jesus Christ.

These men, beloved of Christ, the present reality of the existence of false teachers in the church is connected to the eternal decree of God. So the reason why we know that there will be false teachers in the church is because it pleased God in the eternity past that just as He was going to save a people unto Himself, that there was going to be people that will get into the church unaware, unnoticed. And for those people, there was a condemnation that was reserved. The Apostle Paul says, or the Apostle Peter says there in chapter two, in the words of the Apostle Peter, in verse three, he says in what we read, and in their greed, speaking of these false teachers, they will exploit you with false words. Hear this, their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.

Their destruction, their condemnation, their punishment and judgment upon false teachers was already decreed before the foundation of the world. They were reserved already for this darkness. The Apostle Peter was said in 1 Peter chapter 2. Brothers and sisters, this is actually fearful because it means that we can know for sure that just as nothing can separate us from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, that just as He is going to complete the work in us until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we can be sure just as He will work fruits of righteousness in Jesus Christ for the glory of the Father unto the revelation of the salvation that is ready for us. With the same level of certainty, we can say that there will be false teachers among the church.

Now, brothers and sisters, I think we can see that from Scripture. But let me just give you a warning. A warning not to be cold or indifferent to biblical warnings. A warning not to be indifferent to the things that scripture says that are going to take place, and then your heart is dull, indifferent, unaware. He's like, this warning is not for me.

You know what comes before distraction? Pride comes before destruction. A prideful heart that fills itself with certainties that are built upon the sand and not upon the strong rock of the Word of God is a prideful heart that is walking towards destruction. The warnings of the Word of God have been given to the church and to Christians for a reason. And it's only the lazy, the slothful, the prideful, the loving of him or herself, the one that does not pay attention to the warnings of Scripture.

Beloved of Christ, that our hearts might not be dull or indifferent to that, because if that is a reality in your heart, you're actually indifferent and cold and dull and dead to the Word of God. then the Word of God is not actually speaking and communicating to your heart that we may not have that disposition of our souls towards the warnings of Scripture. Second warning, not only not to dismiss or be indifferent to the warnings of Scripture, but also not to please our consciences thinking that what I'm saying, I'm saying to the churches around us. to believe that I'm speaking of the liberal church, which is clearly a false teacher, or in which clearly there is a false prophet, or this prophet that you know that is online, that is clearly a false teacher. Beloved of Christ, if it's not by the grace of God, you could be receiving the words of a man who is going to be a false teacher in a month or in two months.

How are you going to discern these things if you think that the warnings of scripture are not for us? So the apostle says that just as there were false prophets in the people of Israel, there will be and there shall be false teachers among you. among us. It is a reality, right? It is a reality from which the church cannot escape.

It is a reality that is rooted in the eternal decree of God. But once we understand that this is actually real, and I hope that it is not with indifferent, cold, bored hearts, but rather that you see that in Scripture, we move to define what a false teacher is. False teacher now here compared in the words of the apostle to false prophets of the Old Testament. So now there are many ways in which I could define what a false teacher is, beloved of Christ. And actually, the New Testament is so consistent when it speaks about false teachers, Paul and Peter and John, so consistent that is extremely beautiful.

And one of the little things that I have just seen in my studies of this topic and this doctrine, It is that we are so wrong about so many things, things that we call heresy, things that we call sound doctrine, things that we call this and that, that we are so away from what the Bible really explains. But I think that there is a passage that is going to help us at least to see three things that I want to show you as characteristics of a false teacher, and that is found in Acts chapter 20. So if you go to Acts chapter 20, I'm choosing this passage not only because it's very clear, but it's also because it's very present in our minds. We just studied last week this Acts chapter 20. So beloved of Christ, go there to Acts chapter 20.

And just a few days ago, we went through this chapter and our brother explained and talked to us from this chapter. So I just want to show you three characteristics, three characteristics of a false teacher, because I have already presented to you that there is a reality and that reality is that there will be false teachers in the church, right? There will be false teachers in the church. Now, I want to give you just simply three characteristics. of what a false teacher is.

And we're going to be getting those from Acts chapter 20, verse 29 and 30. It says, I know that after my departure, who is speaking here? The Apostle Paul. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you. You see?

Similar language. Not sparing the flock and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after whom after them. I just want to give you three characteristics, brothers and sisters. There are so many. As we progress through chapter two, there will be so many things that speak of the heart of a false teacher that is just simply a mountain to be climbed.

But it would be good for us just to simply think about these three characteristics of a false teacher. The first one, which Peter has also given us, is just where these false teachers are. Where are they? They are among the church. Not only that they will come in among you, but they will come from among your own selves.

That is, beloved of Christ, that false teachers will sound, look like, and have all the external manifestations of a genuine Christian. All the external manifestations of a person that is able to crept into the church and notice will be the characteristics of a false teacher. The false teacher is among the church. That means that the danger is greater than what you think. The danger is not on YouTube, or the danger is not on the church there across the road, or the danger is not in the church that we have heard something about, but rather the Word of God, which is not idle with anything, not even one word, not careless, not even when one word says that false teachers will come among you.

This church, as Brother explained to us, is a church that has spent time with the Apostle, long periods of time with the Apostle. If the Apostle has the certainty to say that there will be false teachers after he has taught, explained, and lived among them, what would we say with feeble, weak, sinful men? It's a reality that there will be false teachers, or wolves, or fierce wolves among the congregation. The other thing that I want you to see, beloved of Christ, it is what they do not care, what they do not care. They do not care, we are told, they do not care about the church.

You see how it says there, not sparing the flock, that it is the people of God. Now pay attention to this, because you agree very quickly, beloved of Christ, false teachers do not care about the souls of people. Now, caring for the soul of a person goes beyond preparing a sermon. Caring for the soul of a person goes beyond speaking certain words from something that I've learned. Having a genuine concern for the soul of a people is something that is relational in nature, and false teachers do not care about the soul of the person.

They might care about preaching a good sermon. They might care about being presented very well before people. They might care about having a good reputation and to protect their morality and whatever society perceives of them. But they do not care about the souls of people. Now, beloved of Christ, caring and genuinely loving a person is so detailed in Scripture that I can measure my heart even right now with my level of caring for your souls.

You cannot do this with my heart because it's here, it's hidden to you. But a false teacher does not care about the church. Now, who does a false teacher care about? He cares about themselves so much that they are willing to say things to people that they will draw them after them. They are worshipers of self.

They are worshipers. They enjoy receiving the worship, the empty worship that comes from men. They don't care about the worship that comes from God. They care about the empty worship of men. They care about their reputation.

They care about what people say about them. They care about what their standing is in the eyes of men. You see, they derive satisfaction from the words of men. They derive satisfaction from what men do for them. And they are willing to build an empire, not necessarily an empire, but they are willing to have people around them just for the sake of feeding their ego.

This is the nature, satanic nature of a false teacher. They're among us. They're in the midst of the church. They do not care about the souls of the Christian. They care about themselves.

You see how they can crept into the church and notice? How are you going to measure my heart when it comes to my genuine caring for your soul? I can call you, speak to you, and preach to you. How are you going to measure, how are you going to discern my level of love towards you? Not even people that are close to me can even define with absolute certainty my level of genuine biblical Christ-given spirit and power care for the soul of a person.

Yet the Bible calls us and warns us that we are to be careful, that we are to be alert, because there will be false teachers among us. That is what a false teacher is. Now, there's going to be more characteristics of what a false teacher is, but I just wanted to give you that. The reality of it, that I hope that you see it now, And also these three little characteristics. Now, keep those in mind, right where they are among the church, who they care for themselves and who they do not care for the church.

This is what a false teacher of profit is. Now, let's just go back to the passage, because now I want to address, beloved of Christ, the comparison that is given to us by the apostle between the old covenant, the old people, and the new covenant people the church you understand that language right so when i'm saying all covenant i'm referring to who to israel and when i'm speaking of a new covenant i'm speaking of the speaking of the church can you see the comparison there clearly right that as there were false prophets among the people there will be false teachers among you now it's hermeneutical hermeneutically important, or let's say from the point of view of the interpretation of the text, it is important for the apostle to give us the comparison between Israel as the people of God and the church as the people of God. Now, if you want to study this comparison between Israel and the church, There are going to be many places in the scripture, but there are primarily two places where you have to study to see this comparison between Israel as a people of God and Israel as the church. And that is in Hebrews chapter three and four. You know that right?

Hebrews chapter three and four, which we are not going to read. And the second one is 1st Corinthians 10, which we are going to read. Now, beloved of Christ, we are not to be readers of Scripture, right? This I've said to you now many times in the last couple of months. We are to be students of Scripture.

We are to get into Scripture and know Scripture, and you will see why. So the two passages in the New Testament that teaches us and explain to us of the relationship of Israel as the people of God and the church as the people of God under the new covenant in Hebrews chapter three and four and first Corinthians chapter 10. So let's go to first Corinthians chapter 10 and we are going to see there the relationship explained, I think, by the apostle. Now, beloved of Christ, by giving us this comparison, be with me, by giving us this comparison, beloved of Christ, by the Apostle giving us this comparison, in implicit language, he is saying that the experiences of Israel in the Old Covenant are related to the experiences of the church under the new covenant. So he says that just as there were false prophets in the congregation of the old covenant Israel, there will be false teachers among the church.

So that is that the church under the new covenant learns and understands present realities and present experiences by understanding the realities and experiences of the people of Israel under the Old Covenant. You understand that, right? This relationship is given to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Brother, I think you're going to have to put the darken a little bit, otherwise I'm going to melt. Sorry.

Very good. Don't get distracted with that, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Let me just read together or let's just read together the first 13 verses. Because here we're going to see a biblical New Testament, a Spirit-given comparison of Israel in the Old Covenant with the church.

1 Corinthians chapter 10. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." Now, you know who he's speaking about, right? He's speaking about the Exodus wilderness generation, the people of Israel.

Verse 6, Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. You can see the connection there, right? Those things happen as example that we may not desire evil as they did. Verse 7. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were.

Speaking to the Christians now, he says, do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did. And 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer."

11. Now these things happen to them as an example but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Then he follows. Therefore, let anyone who thinks, speaking not to the church, therefore, just as the example, in other words, of the people of Israel, just as the many that were destroyed, just as the many that fell, just as the many that perished, Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he is tense take heed, lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to men.

God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it." And praise God for that. But the point that I want to address here, beloved of Christ, is that first of all, I think it will be impossible for us to deny the connection that is between the experience as the people of God of Israel in the old covenant with the experience of the church under the new covenant. Very difficult to do that.

That will be violence against the text. Second thing that I want you to see is that that comparison of the experiences of the people of Israel under the old covenant with the experiences of the church under the new covenant is not a moral one. That is, that is, let me just say what it's not and what it is, so then I will be able to articulate better. It's not a moral one, but it's a spiritual one. That is, that Israel did not go through all of those things to set a moral example that then the church from this present time would just look back and say, Oh, they did this wrong.

Therefore, let's just do the thing that is right and correct. It's not a moral connection in which we just simply look and then just try to follow an example. But it's rather on a spiritual connection. In other words, in other words, that the spiritual experiences of Israel under the old covenant reflect the spiritual experiences of the church under the new covenant. You understand what I'm saying, right, brothers and sisters?

is a spiritual connection. You can see this from the text because Paul is not just making Israel just a human external example, but a spiritual example. And this is very important, beloved of Christ. Because many people, when they look back to Israel, they see as the sinners, as the hardened in the heart ones that did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see the church as the one that, you know, we're the ones that we have Jesus Christ and that we're the ones that are saved.

But Israel, they were not in faith or walking in the Lord, or there was not a spiritual substance for the people of Israel. But just pay attention to what Scripture says. It says in verse one, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. Speaking to Gentiles of Israelites in the Old Covenant, that our fathers. Then it says in verse three, And all of them ate the same physical food.

Spiritual food, Israel ate that manna that was the spiritual food, verse 4, and all drank the same physical drink, spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. They drank a spiritual drink, they ate spiritual food, and they are the fathers or the forefathers, if you want, of the congregation. Now, it will be to make violence to the text, to try to explain this as something that is physical when the Bible clearly says that it's a spiritual matter. So that is that the spiritual experiences of the old covenant people of God, Israel, reflect the spiritual realities and experiences of the New Testament people of God that we call the church. Beloved of Christ, the other word that I want you to pay attention to is the word example in verse 6.

Two times we're given this word in this text. It says, verse 6, Now these things took place. That is the things that happened to Israel. They took place as examples for us that we may not desire evil as they did. And once again, in verse 11, we are told, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for an instruction.

This word, as I explained to the men in the men's meeting, is a word that not speak so much of us looking back to something that happens, but rather is a word that speaks of a reality that took place in the past being a shadow of a reality that is going to take place in the future. This is the word type. So the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 5 says that Adam, the first Adam, was a type of the second Christ or the second Adam, better, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is when you see Jesus Christ, you see things that are prophetically and eschatologically speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes, but He comes in fullness. The same thing, the spiritual realities and experiences of the church, or better, of the people of God, Israel, under dual government, reflect the spiritual realities of the congregation and the church.

Please bear with me with all of these words that I'm saying. I'm just trying to explain what the connection is there. Very important that we understand that it's a spiritual connection. Now I'm going to give you just a couple of verses only to make sure that you see that in the words and it's not my explanation of the text. Go to Hebrews now, Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews chapter 4. Remember that I said to you that there are two passages of Scripture that will clearly speak about this comparison between Israel and the church. And the first section of Scripture I said to you was Hebrews 3 and 4, and the second one is 1 Corinthians chapter 10. You remember that, right? Now, we're here in Hebrews chapter 4 in verse 2.

We could read the whole thing, but we will finish at 7 p.m. Now, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 2. For good news came to us You see, you've read this before, right? So this is us speaking of the church, right?

Just as to them, this is the wilderness generation of the Exodus generation. But the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listen. Literally, it is that the message that they receive, it was not mixed, or it did not have faith in it. So now, once we read that, we say, OK, the people of Israel who were coming out of Egypt, they received the message of I'm going to free you and take you out of this bandage and I'm going to take you to the wilderness where you will serve me. And they did not believe.

We will believe that. Now, brothers, there's a complication, and that is that through the book of Exodus, Many and multiple times we are told that the people believed that when they heard the message from Moses, that they actually believed. And then sometimes they even rejoice and they believe what Moses had said. And even the same author of Hebrews, if you go to Hebrews chapter 11. Before you even read this verse, every time that we speak about Hebrews 11, what topic comes to your faith, to your mind?

Faith, right? Every time that we speak about Hebrews 11, faith comes to your mind. Now, would you accept if I said to you that the faith that the author of Hebrews is speaking about is false faith? Would you accept that? That all these examples of this, of faith, all of these people that were given in Hebrews, that is an example of faith that is fake.

It will not be possible. Noah and Moses, all of them examples of faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 29. Speaking of the people who came out of Egypt, it says that they crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

And they did it by faith. Beloved of Christ, by faith, the people cross the Red Sea as on dry land. But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. The author of the New Testament is telling us that the people of the Old Covenant and the people of Israel, that they crossed the sea by faith. Now, there's no time for us to go and understand all of the different nuances of what was this profession of faith of the people of Israel.

But we would be denying and making violence to the text to believe that there was not at least a type of faith in the people of Israel. Therefore, when the apostles speak of the realities of Israel connected to the people of the new covenant, the church, this is a spiritual connection, and this is the only thing that I've tried to do from Scripture. Beloved of Christ, this is so important because when you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the point that the apostle is trying to communicate to the church is that just as there were many people that fell and were destroyed and did not make it until the end in the promised land, there will be a reality of falling in the church. Therefore, do not be like them." And that is the testimony of the Scripture.

Go to 2 Thessalonians, please. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The Bible speaks of the certainty, just as it is certain that there will be false prophets among the church, it speaks of the certainty that there will be people who will fall away, not from something different to Israel, but from Israel in the context of the church. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1.

Now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." You're there, right? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. "...concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day, the coming of the Lord, will not come unless the falling away or the rebellion or the apostasy comes first." Now, it is saying that the coming of the Lord will not come unless the rebellion or the falling away comes first. And then some of you are just building in your hearts, you know, because it's eschatology. And my view of eschatology is this, and therefore that does not apply.

1st Timothy chapter 4 also says that in the latter times or in the last days, many, many will fall from the faith that there is going to be many people who will fall from the faith that they will depart following doctrines of demons, following evil spirits. They will depart from the truth. There will be times, the Apostle Paul says, Peter, that there will be scoffers. And that's why he's warning the church not to be carried away. If it was impossible for the church to be carried away by the deceitfulness of all of these people, then there would not be need of warning.

And the warning will be empty. And God is not careless with the things that he says, as if he was speaking something that is not real. That is the habits of men. who are liars, He is always true. So the warning given to the church is true, of course, because God is true and because whatever He says is true and the fullness of His words are true and everything that says His scripture is true and we are supposed to be able and willing to die because of what this book says.

Beloved of Christ, the spiritual experiences of Israel speak of the spiritual experiences of the church. And if we are speaking about false prophets, then the questions that we need to ask, the question that we need to ask ourselves is why there were false prophets in Israel? All my effort with these things that we have done is just to bring you to the The importance of this question in answering why there were false prophets in Israel helps us to define why there will be false teachers among the church. You see my connection? If they are spiritually connected, if one of them is a shadow of the other, and the apostle says, just as there were false prophets among the people, just us, just us, there will be false teachers in the church.

So then it follows that it's rational and it's biblically sound to ask ourselves why there were false prophets in Israel. You see that, right? You see that. We're going to answer that question from Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy chapter 13 is going to help us to answer that question of the false prophets in the congregation.

Now pay attention to this because there's still another three or four things that I want to say to you that are very important, more important than the things that I have said so far. So please, self control, keep your attention, your heart in everything that I'm saying, because there's still a couple of things that I want to communicate to you. Deuteronomy chapter 13. Now let's just read carefully. If I profit, or a dreamer of dreams.

Now, I just want you to see the words that are very similar to Peter's words, arises among you. You have those words, right? Or at least this concept. If a prophet or a dreamer, a dreamer of dream arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass and he says, Let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

Right? Just read again. and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass. And if he says, let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words that a prophet or the dreamer of dreams." Now, would a true prophet tell the people of Israel to follow another god?

So we're speaking here about false prophets. And then he says, For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion, or something that is contrary to the Lord, against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you live the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Why did the Lord allow false prophets into arising in the midst of the people of God? To test them and to know whether you love your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that according to the glorious Lord Jesus Christ is the summary of the law. All external obedience under the old covenant and in the old covenant was summarized in loving the Lord with all your heart. And then from loving the Lord with all your heart, all external manifestations of obedience will be present. So that is that the Lord allowed false prophets in the midst of the congregation to test the genuineness of the heart of the people of God.

And when the heart of the people of God were not genuine in love towards the Lord, Not only false prophets are also among the people, but the people were taken by the sayings and by the dreams and by the prophecies and by the utterances of these false prophets. And as in Jeremiah will say, they were not prophesying from the Lord, but they were prophesying from their own hearts, because they cared about themselves. Go to Hosea chapter 4, whatever the pronunciation is. Hosea chapter 4. When the people of Israel, beloved of Christ, be with me, find the passage and be with me.

When the people of God under the old covenant departed in their hearts from God, then not only external manifestations of disobedience will happen, Because you cannot obey God if you don't love the Lord. But also people will be taken captive by the deceitfulness, prophecies and sayings of false prophets. And they are here in this controversy that the Lord has with the people of Israel. We learned something very important about the lack of love to the Lord, God of Israel. Hosea chapter 4, verse 1.

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, or there's no true or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, lying, murder. You can see when there's lack of love in the heart for a person, then external manifestations of disobedience. Verse 2, there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing and committing adultery.

They break all bounds and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore, the land murns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. Yet let no one contend, and let no one accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest. You shall stumble by day, speaking to the people, you shall stumble by day. The prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother.

Who is going to destroy who? God, Israel or His people under the old covenant because of verse two, there is no faithfulness or steadfast love and knowledge of God. And therefore he says in verse five, you shall stumble by day, the prophet also shall stumble with you by night and I will destroy your mother, verse six. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." Beloved of Christ, pay attention to this. false prophets is the judgment of God upon his people, because they have forsaken the Lord in their heart and they have given themselves to other except God. And therefore, God comes upon them by giving them over to the deceitfulness of their hearts and the deceitfulness that come out of the mouth of false prophets. And then you say, yeah, but there's no judgment upon the church under the new covenant.

Peter says, for it is that judgment must begin by the household of God. 1 Peter chapter 4. The judgment of God must begin by the household of God. And just as people under the old covenant did not love the Lord, nor his word. And therefore, as a brother quoted last week, they forsook the Lord.

They heard unto themselves or they built unto themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water instead of coming to the Lord, who is the fountain of living water. They are given to the deceitfulness of false prophets and false teachers." And then you may say, yes, but this is only for Israel. I have proved to you already that the experiences of the old covenant are also speaking of the experiences of the church in the new covenant. And then Paul, if you go to 1 Timothy chapter 4, go there because you have to read it with your own eyes, 2 Timothy chapter 4, Speaking in the context of the New Testament church, something that we've read many times and we read it last week, 2 Timothy chapter 4.

expounding the teaching and the doctrine that I have just presented to you in the Old Covenant, expounding it and presenting it here. It says, "...for the time..." 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, "...for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching."

That is, people will not endure the words of the Lord. People will reject knowledge. People will reject the words that come from the Lord Himself. They will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate unto themselves teachers to suit their own passions. They are followers, not of the words of God, because they cannot even endure them.

But they depart from being under the teaching of the Lord, and they go through an impulse of their passions to accumulate unto themselves false teachers. He does not call them, you know, false people, but false teachers. Why? Because they continue to teach them supposedly the things of the Lord. and will turn away from listening to the truth of the Word of God to wander off into myths, deceitful myths created by men."

When it comes to truth, beloved of Christ, When it comes to truth, there is only two categories. It is either true or it is not. You see, you don't have 99% truth, you don't have 95% truth, you don't have 90% truth. The moment that you have something that is not true is called Satan. It's called satanic teaching.

The moment that you put a drop of black paint into a bucket with white paint, even though you cannot see, that thing is not white anymore. So, I departure from sound teaching, and I departure from right and sound doctrine, that is imposed or that it is moved and carried by love to self and not love to the words of God, it is the root of causing false teachings in the congregation. But it starts when the people of God do not endear the word of the Lord. Beloved of Christ, this is fearful. This is fearful because The salvation of the soul of a person depends on the coming and the flow, the ongoing flow of the Word of God unto that particular person.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and the life that now I live in the Lord in the flesh. I live by faith and this faith continues to be nourished by the Word of God so that we are called to take heed of your doctrine and your teaching so that you will save your soul and the ones that hear your preaching. because the sumministration, if that is a word, or better, the provision, or the giving, or the communicating of the Word of God, it is vital for the final, ultimate endurance of the soul of a believer. False teachers, beloved of Christ, and very soon I'm going to finish, so just please be with me another 5 or 10 minutes. Beloved of Christ, false teachers are among the church, among the church, right?

They do not care about the souls of people, but they care about themselves. Go back to Acts chapter 20, because now I want to show you the antithetical example of the life of the true man of God, exemplified in the life of the apostle Paul, who was a true prophet, who was a true teacher. So go to Acts chapter 20. This is the contrast, this is the comparison, this is the workings of the Spirit of Christ in the men of God, not in the false teacher who is in the midst of the church, who does not care about the souls and who cares about himself. Acts chapter 20, it says in verse 19, this is what he says about himself.

Or better, let's just read it from the second half of verse 18, it says, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia. Right. How I lived. He doesn't even say what I taught you. He says, how I lived, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.

how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. I did not keep anything for me, it means, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear this, beloved. Pay attention to this. The provision, if you understand what I mean by these words, or the giving, or the communicating, or the conveying of biblical truth from the men of God to the people of God is never an intellectual exercise.

Is never. I need your full attention from what I'm going to say. It's never, it's never an intellectual exercise alone, but it's a relational exercise. The one that preaches is not only concerned about truth being proclaimed, but is concerned about that truth impacting the souls of those who hear that even with tears and much travail in the soul, in the bowels, That man is seeking conformity in much anguish for the souls of those who listen to the word of God. Beloved of Christ, the relationship between a pastor and an elder and those who hear the word is never an intellectual exercise.

It is meant to be a relational exercise. How come there is then men of God who are very powerful when they speak, yet they have not wept not even once for the souls of their people in the secret place? How come there's men of God who have churches with 5,000 people who do not even know the names of the people that are sitting in front of them? How come there are churches that have programs and systems, everything except a biblical provision of truth from those that proclaim it to the souls of those who receive? How are the souls of those who receive the words of God are going to be nourished, encouraged and growing conformity to Christ when their exercise of receiving the words of God is purely intellectual and lacks of reality?

Beloved of Christ, I don't think that I'm just speaking my opinion about these matters. I think that you can see the example in the things that I have just said and in the life of the apostle Peter. Paul. Not only that, the concept, or better, the doctrine of what the Word of God does to the soul is relational by nature. Go to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3.

The provision, the given, that conveying or communicating a biblical truth requires relations or relationships. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17, all the verses that we know. Now, just before we read, how am I going to be able the one that is speaking from the pulpit. How am I going to be able to preach the Word of God to you, which is the word that is preached from this church, to your soul so that you would be fully equipped with everything that is needed for your soul if we don't do it according to what the Scripture says? Pay attention.

All the Scripture, and of course, the Scripture that is preached and that is proclaimed and all the teaching of the Scripture, because we acknowledge and believe that the Lord has given teachers and preachers in the congregation for the giving of the Word of God. We believe that all the Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. And the contemporary church has reduced this verse to the first one, teaching. That's it. How can you grow in conformity to Christ if you don't have reproof, correction, and training in righteousness?

How are we going to be like Jesus Christ if we reduce the receiving of the Word of God, the preached Word of God, from the man of God, if we reduce it down to teaching? That word is meant to reproof, correct, and train in righteousness. But you know what the problem is? That we have indeed reduced the work of the men of God to only teaching. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3, please.

And I'm sorry that I'm taking you to so many scriptures, but I want you to see this with your own eyes. 1 Timothy chapter 3. These are the requirements for the men of God who is going to be preaching the Word of God to the congregation. These are their requirements, beloved of Christ. These are the requirements of elders or preachers or pastors or shepherds and any other word that you may have in English to define the same role.

These are necessities, requirements, there's no option. You cannot have 99% of them and then just have a pastor, a teacher that is going to biblically provide for the congregation the Word of God for teaching, reproving, correction and training so that you will be fully equipped. It says, the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be 1.

above reproach, 2. the husband and one wife, 3. sober-minded, 4. self-control, 5. respectable, 6.

hospitable, 7. able to teach, 8. Not a drunkard. 9. Not violent, but gentle.

10. Not quarrelsome. 11. Not a lover of money. 12.

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 13. He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, 14, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

All of these, at least 14, perhaps there's more there, all of these requirements, are biblical necessities in the man that provides for you the words of God that are not only supposed to train you, but correct you, reproof you, and also lift or build you up in righteousness. Beloved of Christ, the contemporary church, Christianity, has reduced down the role of the men of God to the ability to teach. So then when you hear and listen to a man that you do not know, a man that you have not seen his wife or his kids, a man who lives on the other side of the world, who does not know you and does not care about your soul, Then you give all your ears to those words because you have reduced down the provision, the communication of the words of God to teaching. So this man is unable to reprove you. This man is unable to correct you.

And this man is unable to care for your soul. But yet you give yourself and open your ears and everything to multiplicity of sources of information that come from the world to grow in knowledge. The knowledge that pops up. The knowledge that Israel was pursuing. The knowledge that the Israelites were wanting to hear this and that, and this and that, and this and that.

Not the words of the Lord. The contemporary church has reduced down the concept of Amen of God to teaching. So when they hear good teaching, good presentation, and good articulation of words, this is Amen of God. They do not know their wives. They don't know how they treat their wives.

They have not seen their children. They don't know how they behave at home. They do not even know their testimony of salvation. They don't even know how things are done in their lives. Yet we can say, and I say that, these are men of God.

I'm not saying that we should not do that. What I'm saying to you is that you should understand the role of the men who preach the Word of God in the context of a local church and the importance for the edification of those who are in the context of it. And I'm not presenting here an apologetic defense for the two of us. I'm just presenting what the Scripture says for every single local church. for every single local church so when the ears and the minds are open to multiplicity of words and things and that that will never reprove correct or train you in righteousness then the ears are easily moved and taken captive to deceitful teachings.

Because beloved of Christ, let me tell you, we are or we don't have the full ability to filter, understand, comprehend the multiplicity of things that are in the world. Beloved of Christ, it pleased God that the edification of the church will be through the local church. The edification of your souls will be through the person that is seated next to you, the person that is seated behind you, the person that is seated in front of you, that the church will grow in knowledge and conformity to Christ with those that we call brothers and sisters. Yes, we love our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world. We love them and pray for them.

But the ones to whom we have to show a manifestation of love is the one that is next to us. How am I going to be able to manage and rule over the church as an elder if I'm not able to rule and manage my wife and my kids? Because it's about that which is immediate to you, and then you can concern about the things that are not immediate to the church. This, beloved of Christ, this tragedy of reducing the role of the men of God to only teaching has produced a church, generally speaking, that is immature. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and I will finish with that.

I think I said 10 minutes, but I think I went beyond that. Sorry. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Read this with much reverence and with careful attention, brothers and sisters. This is this is this is the preaching and this is the heart of the men of God, the apostle Paul, that says imitate me as I imitated Christ.

Right. This is that the heart that is of Christ in him is the heart that is to be in the people of God, it says. And when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming, you're in second, in first Corinthians chapter two, right? And when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and He crucified. And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling.

And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith. might not rest in the wisdom of men. So that means that there is a chance that the faith of people in the church may be established upon the wisdom of men, right? But in the power of God. Yet among the mature, yet among the mature, I was supposed to emphasize there, verse 6, pay attention.

Yet among the mature. So that means that the ones that we have spoken about, those who have the faith established upon the wisdom of men are immature. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. Although, speaking of the apostles and the men of God, although it is not a wisdom of this age of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not crucify the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of men has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him." This is not speaking about great experiences in the world, but this is speaking about wisdom, right? These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." And you can continue reading the chapter then when you get your own time, beloved, because it's the Spirit of Christ, the one that searches everything in you. And when the faith of a person is established upon the wisdom of men and not upon the power of God, then that faith of that person is immature.

And just as Hebrews 5 says, and our brother read that last week, that person is not ready for meat, but is only nourished and fed in milk. That person has not exercised. spiritual senses to discern between which is right and wrong, evil and good. Because the Word of God is not meant to abide in your head. He's meant to train you onto righteousness so that you will be able to discern that which is evil and that which is good.

And that happens only with training, reproving, correction, equipping in righteousness that the men and women of God may be fully equipped for every single word. Beloved of Christ, we live in times in which the Church as a whole, it is a spiritually immature Church, and therefore we are easily taken by whims of doctrines, easily taken, and the hearts are not conformed to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this should not be only a ceremony in which I say all of these things. This should be a call for all of us, because in all of this that we call church, imagine what? We are all together, right?

It is not about just an exercise that we just do church, and it's just nice coming on a Sunday, and from time to time. But in all of this, we are all together. And conformity to Christ is all together. Being given fruits of righteousness and love and Christ-likeness and glorifying the Father is all together. It doesn't happen with a person across the street.

It doesn't happen with a person in other states. It doesn't happen with a person across the country. it is all together. So we are to grow in maturity, not to establish our faith upon the wisdom of men, but upon the power and the words of God. Growing in understanding each one of us of the words of God, so that when one of us is deviating from the truth, we might be able to reprove and to bring correction in love and in grace.

We might be able to spot that which is not. We might be able to identify that which is crooked and that we might be able to do it in grace and in love and just like the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do it. Not bringing our problems to the lost, but solving issues among ourselves. Because as I have said to you, beloved of Christ, Biblical love only happens and is taken to a greater level when forgiveness has taken place. I have not had to forgive you major things, nothing.

We are all good. That means that our love needs to be taken still to a greater level, and that happens through forgiveness. And for forgiveness to take place, there has to be a crash, or whatever you call that, between the people of God. You cannot solve that with an intellectual exercise of what to do in church discipline. Let's go to Matthew 18 and just follow the precepts.

You do that when Jesus Christ is ruling in your heart, and when you indeed want to love Him, and you genuinely care for the people that are around you, like the Apostle Paul. In the church, not caring for himself, but caring for the church. Amen.