Heresy as Deviation - 2 Pete..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. 2 Peter chapter 2. And as I said, we're going to be finishing that verse one of that second chapter in which the apostle Peter is going to give us a characteristic or an explanation of the workings or the doings of these false prophets.

It says that they will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. That is the person of Scripture that we're going to be studying together this afternoon. But as we always do, brothers and sisters, let's read together the context, starting from chapter one and going all the way through chapter two in verse three. So with much reverence and paying attention to the context and to what we are reading with reverent hearts and asking the Holy Spirit to help us, to strengthen us and guide us as we do. Let's read together Beloved of Christ, chapter one, and the first three verses of chapter two.

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 only excited 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, that you know them and are established in 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. For we did not follow cleverly devised means 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. 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 a 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 destruction is not asleep. Amen. The Word of the Lord. Beloved of Christ, we are addressing that second half of verse one in which the Apostle Peter gives us more information about these false prophets telling us that they will secretly bring in destructive heresies And then he qualifies that saying, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. If you have a different translation to the one that I have, that word master may be translated as Lord.

And actually there are two different words that speak of master and Lord, and both of them speak of the Lord Jesus Christ or the master, the Lord Jesus Christ. So you can see the complexity and the difficulty of the text that we have in front of us because the apostle is telling us that these false teachers or these false prophets who are in the context of the church, will bring secretly into the context of the church heresies or destructive heresies. And he says, even denying the master or the Lord who bought them. And I hope that your biblical understanding of Scripture will come into your mind and show you the difficulty of the text. Because every time that we think about the lore of the master buying or purchasing someone, we think about that in the context of genuine salvation.

The Christian, the genuine Christian, the one who by grace through faith has been saved and genuinely is the one who has been bought with a price. First Corinthians chapter six. It is the genuine Christian, the one that has been bought by the master or by the Lord. That purchasing or that buying of the soul of the Christian is with the blood of God. According to Acts chapter 20, we have been purchased with the blood of God.

Those are genuine believers. And speaking about this purchasing of this buying of the soul of the believer, of the genuine believer, even Peter in 1st Peter chapter 1, on 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 14 through 17, it says that we have not been purchased. with perishable silver or gold, but rather that we have been purchased with imperishable blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or without spot." We know that it's through the purchasing act of the Savior through his blood that we have reconciliation with God the Father. Romans chapter five, and it's through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ purchasing us is that we have peace with God and we are not in enmity or under the wrath of God.

Romans chapter five. So, the person who has been bought by the Lord, or the person who has been bought by the Master, is a person who is a genuine believer, redeemed by grace through faith, inserted by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ into Christ, vitally, and then given the promise, the seal of the Spirit, that that person is going to be preserved and kept for a salvation that is ready to be revealed. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5. So I want you to see the complexity and the difficulty of the verse that we have in front of us. And actually, this is one of those verses that I even struggled many, many, many times up to, you know, like a couple of weeks ago.

And even I've said to you that I've seen my brother struggling with this verse here. who just by reading this verse, enter into so much difficulty of how am I going to reconcile that if God purchased us with his blood, that he also purchased that the Lord, the master also bought a false prophet, a false teacher. I want you to see the difficulty of the verse, because even perhaps the difficulty of that verse has not been something that has come into your mind. But if we are going to have a balanced doctrine in a scripture, then we're going to have to take a scripture as what it says, and we're going to have to deal with the scripture, with the things that are written and given to us. So we have here the Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter telling us that these false teachers, these false prophets who had been from long ago ordained for eternal condemnation, those false teachers who from the eternal decree of God have been kept and reserved to end up in hell, that they deny the master or the Lord who bought them.

And you may have that Lord in your Bible translation there with a capital L where we have the years, but you will have the master with a capital M because indeed is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ or to the Lord God of Israel or to the master, the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we going to understand this verse, beloved of Christ? How are we going to deal with this? We're just simply going to approach the scripture and try to understand it. But before we get into that statement of the denying of the master who bought them, you see that is a word.

There is a word there that is connecting the previous statement with that denying of the master who bought them. And the word is even. And that word just explains or tells us that whatever it comes after, it is an explanation of what it is before. And what we have before is a characteristic of false prophets given to us by the Holy Spirit through the apostle. And this characteristic, beloved of Christ, is that false prophets will bring secretly destructive heresies.

I'm going to need much of your attention because there's like 20 or 30 scriptures that I want to bring your attention to so that we will see from Scripture what the apostle and the Spirit of God is trying to say. So much attention to what I'm just trying to say here from the pulpit, beloved of Christ. And even if you just miss something, remember that we have audios and all of these things that you can refer to, and then you can just go and study these things from Scripture. So beloved of Christ, I'm going to submit to you that in order for us to understand that statement, which I just want to remove that from us and understand that which the Spirit says to the apostle and then from that moving to a practical exhortation to the church, I want us to meditate upon the concept of heresy. Because these false prophets who will be in the context of the church, remember that this is a reality.

Just as there were false prophets in the old covenant people, there shall be false teachers in the context of the church. And remember that these false teachers or these false prophets in the context of the church, they are not interested in the well-being of the souls of the people of God, but they're actually there after their own interest. The apostle says that they will bring into the church secretly destructive heresies. And these heresies or these destructive heresies, understanding that is going to help us to understand what the apostle means when he says that they even deny the Lord or the master who bought them. This concept of heresy is a concept, beloved of Christ, that if it's not understood as his scripture wants us to understand it, then we're going to find many difficulties.

And I'm just going to submit to you that many of the ecclesiastical or church practices will not be conducted as they should. So much attention to this place. I'm going to address first this concept of heresy. Biblically speaking, we are going to meditate about what heresy is from what scripture says. And then from there, we're going to give the explanation to the text.

And then simply in the end, I want us to meditate upon an exhortation that will be derived from the text. Now, this concept of heresy, beloved of Christ. When we commonly use the word heresy, our common general understanding, even as I'm speaking those words, just answer that in your mind. What is your general understanding of what a heresy is? And I would submit to you that the general understanding of what heresy is, is that it's a...

Teaching that it is contrary to Christian teaching. So you will think that a heresy is that which is opposed or contrary or in opposition to a Christian teaching. And a Christian teaching, we will define it as something that comes from Scripture. And that, generally speaking, is the definition of what heresy is throughout human extra-biblical history. That we see a heresy as something that is contrary to a Christian doctrine, a Christian teaching.

The problem with that definition is that Christian doctrine is defined by the person or the church or the denomination that wants to define what Christian doctrine is. So you will find the Catholic Church, for instance, saying that a heresy is that which goes contrary or in opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church, because they believe that their interpretation of scriptures and the tradition that they have as a church is the correct Christian teaching. Now, at least Catholics acknowledge and recognize that they are submitted to the interpretation of their church. Wicked and unrighteous that it is, preaching another gospel, but we Protestants do the same in our denominations, because it is according to our own interpretation of scripture that we define what a Christian doctrine is, to the point that if someone goes against our Doctrine or explanation where sometimes you can call them heretics or that they are in heresy. There are people out there that just by thinking and knowing what we believe, you guys and myself, will call us that we are in heresy.

Right? So commonly speaking, commonly and generally speaking, a heresy is a teaching that goes contrary to this Christian doctrine. Very important, beloved of Christ, that we remove ourselves from that and that we try just to see a scripture just plainly with the words that he says, just to gain a little bit of more understanding about what heresy is from a biblical perspective. Now, that definition is not absolutely wrong, but there is something deeper in a scripture that will help us understand a very important, important practical matter for the life of the church. Now, this word heresy is not a word that is used many times in the Bible.

There is just nine times that is used, as is given to us here in 2 Peter 2, verse 1, and another few times that it is used as a derivative of the word that is given to us here, heresy. The word, just the concept of the meaning of the word heresy, biblically speaking, it is summarized in just simply two concepts, division and separation. So biblically speaking, biblically speaking, a heresy, just the concept of what the word is. We are going to have it in our mind just as something that is divisive or division and that separates. That is just the concept of the word.

And actually, if you remember your Bible and you've read your Bible many times, I hope you will know that this word heresy in your English translation is not used many times. Actually, you will point it perhaps only to one time here in a computer, depending on the translation that you have, and then perhaps two or three or a handful of times if you have another translation, but no more than that. But this word happens more times than that. And this word, please pay attention to this, is very important. It speaks of division and separation.

Now, let me just give you a biblical illustration of the concept so that you will know what I mean. As we're going through Acts, you remember, right? We're going through Acts, Acts chapter 23. Now, we have heard of the Sadducees, right? And we have heard of the Pharisees, and every time that we're reading about them or that we are actually studying about them, we are told that they are the party of the Sadducees or that they are the sect of the Pharisees or the Sadducees.

Actually, the word that is used to speak of the party of the Sadducees, or the sect of the Sadducees, or the sect of the Pharisees, is indeed the word heresy. Because this word heresy, just the meaning of the word, biblically speaking, speaks of division and separation. And I remember that the competition between the Sadducees and the Pharisees was to see who was the one that was closest to what Scripture taught. So that when Paul is presenting his defense before Jonah the Sanhedrin and many people, he will say, I belong to the Pharisees. And the Pharisees are the strictest.

sect or the strictest party. In other words, saying that this heresy or that this division or that this separation of Judaism is the one that is closest to the teachings of the Bible. They acknowledged that this sect or this party was a division, a separation from the truth, and that the closer that this group will be, the more faithful that it will be to the truth that God had given. They had different opinions. Remember?

The Sadducees had an opinion and the Pharisees had another opinion. Both of them, they will root their teachings and their doctrines in their interpretation of whatever authority they had, either through the interpretation through the synagogue or just more directly through a scripture. But they will say this is what the Bible teaches. It was just simply their interpretation. This is very interesting, beloved of Christ, because you remember that when the Apostle Paul is also presenting his defense in Acts chapter 24, he's saying not only that he belongs to, in Acts chapter 26, that he belongs to the Pharisees as the strictest sect.

If you have another translation, it will say the straightest. The straightest, perhaps this is not a word that you use in English, but you know, straight, something that is straight, the straightest. That means that he considered the Pharisees to be the way that was closer or straightest to that which Scripture actually teaches. And the beauty of this is that when he's actually defending the faith in Acts chapter 24, he will say, You are accused to his accusers. I confess to you that it is according to the way.

Speaking of Christianity, of course, we know that he's referring to the way as the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's the way, the truth and the life. But he says that according to the way of Speaking of Christianity, which you call a heresy, which you call a sect, which you call a deviation or a separation, that I am the one that believes in our fathers according to everything that has been given in the law and in the prophets. The apostle is saying that now he's interpreting the law and the prophets according to the way of interpreting that is the straightest, the one that is in alignment with the will of God, which you call a heresy or a sect or a party. Now, the glory about that is not that the apostle is saying that my interpretation of what our fathers believed and the law and the prophets is correct. The glory of that is that the way is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.

So he's saying that you are following these deviations, these separations that you call a sect or a party, and following the way. That is a definition of what a heresy is. And beloved of Christ, let me add a deeper layer to that so that we will see biblically what actually heresy is, because sometimes this is what the word means from the context of the scripture. But sometimes it's also see it is good to see it in comparison to that which is opposite. So, biblically speaking, if you read 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy and Titus, if you take that task and you read that carefully, you will see that the instructions of the Apostle Paul to both Timothy and Titus is for them to fight those deviations that are called heresy.

And they are supposed to fight those teachings that are contrary to Scripture, separated from Scripture with sound doctrine. So you can do that exercise at home, reading 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus, and you will see that what I'm saying is true. Now, beloved Christ, so what I'm saying to you is that sound teaching is that which is opposite to heresy. And heresy is defined as a division or as a separation. And when you go and see sound teaching, you will see that this speaks of something that it is healthy teaching.

Come with me to Titus chapter one in Titus chapter one. We have here, in Titus chapter 1, you're going to have to pay lots of attention. I'm still very, very far from even what I want to say. It's taking too long. Please, just bear with me.

Titus chapter 1, in Titus chapter 1, beloved of Christ, this is very important that we understand as a church. It's very important. In Titus chapter 1, Paul is given the qualifications for elders. You remember that passage, right? We have read Titus many times.

Now, he's given those qualifications to the elders, and the elders are the ones that are supposed to teach sound doctrine. Now, in verse nine, you can read that from verse five after, but you're going to read the whole book, so you will read it anyway. But we can read from verse nine From verse 9, we can see the instruction that is given to the elders. Speaking of the elders, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, in sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict. That it is that the elder, the elder is supposed to use sound doctrine.

But I want you to see here the opposition to rebuke those who contradict those who contradict sound doctrine. Those who contradict are the ones that are in a deviation or in a separate, different teaching country to sound doctrine. But still, we have not seen what actually sound doctrine is. Come with me to First Timothy, chapter six, because in First Timothy, chapter six, we will see this concept of sound doctrine. Now, I don't know if any translation in English does it, but this word sound or perhaps I think you have in your in your ESV, if you have the ESV, you may have a little note there to the word sound that tells you that that word actually means healthy, healthy.

And something that is healthy, beloved of Christ, is something that is whole, something that is complete. Actually, I think our brother mentioned that in Numbers chapter five, something that is complete, something that is whole. You remember that the Lord Jesus Christ came to make the sick. whole, and that is actually the same the same word to make them complete. So that means that heresy is something that is not going to be whole or complete, but better in the definition of what Paul says.

Let's read together in First Timothy, chapter six, verse three. Pay attention to what the apostle says. It says, if anyone, anyone, right, if anyone, teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound, the same word, words of our Lord Jesus Christ. and the teaching that accords with godliness he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing he has an unhealthy you see this contrast of the one that does not teach a healthy doctrine he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy dissension islander and so on and continues like that i want you to see here something that The apostle is now comparing that which is sound doctrine, and he compares that with any different doctrine. It says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and he gives the qualifier that does not agree with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, that that is another doctrine.

Beloved of Christ. This is a very heavy statement. The only thing that I'm just trying to say to you is that heresy, biblically speaking, which just the word means a deviation or a separation from what it is meant to be and that which is meant to be, it is the sound or whole or complete doctrine, which are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that heresy is any deviation from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not a huge deviation or a large or a scandalous deviation.

Any deviation from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, biblically speaking, are defined as a different doctrine, other teaching, Or as a heresy, even there is an example there in Titus chapter three that we will see later of how that worked is used just for a person who is likely just doing something different. Now, beloved of Christ, I want you to see the weight of what I'm saying. That is that any any system. Any doctrine, any teaching that is slightly deviates or it is different to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ is considered to be other teaching, other doctrine, and therefore not whole, cut, separated, divided, a heresy. I don't know if you can see it, but at least the one that is speaking, knowing that James 3 says that there is a stricter judgment for the one that teaches, That makes me tremble a lot.

And even if I bring it to the next point that we're going to see, this should bring to us much fear, because it's anything that goes away from the words of the Lord that is considered not to be whole or complete. Now, I'm not going to put any unnecessary burden on your souls. I would like that there is a little bit of a burden on your soul. I cannot see your soul, your hearts, but I'm not going to put any unnecessary burden on your souls because the type of heresy that we have in 2 Peter is a type of heresy. You remember the word that described the heresy that we have in chapter 2?

It says destructive. heresies it says destructive heresies and if you go back to say computer i want you to see that because i'm not going to put any unnecessary burdens on your soul and just teach what scripture actually just says whatever the word that he says but if you go to say computer chapter two you will see that the type of heresies that the apostle is speaking there of these false prophets are destructive heresies, right? You have the word there, destructive heresy. And if you have a different translation, you will have a more accurate meaning, which is a damnable heresy. And that is because that word destructive there, it means condemnation, eternal condemnation of damnable heresies.

That word heresy or that word destructive that goes together with heresy there is the same word that is used to describe the destruction that will swiftly come upon these false teachers there in the end of the verse one. You see that it says, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. This is speaking about a type of heresy that will end up in condemnation. And this is very important that we understand, beloved of Christ. And this is what I'm going to add something else to your mind, because there is a type of if you want heresy or unhealthy teaching or something that is deviated from sound doctrine.

that the Lord gives hope that there will be still repentance. Now, remember that I'm working with you based on the definition of heresy that I gave you from the beginning, not the definition of heresy that the world or that history has. This is very important. Otherwise, you're going to be offended with the words that I'm just uttering now. I'm speaking as heresy as a deviation from that which is meant to be complete and whole.

Now, there is a type, there is a type of contradiction. There is a type of error to sound doctrine that the Lord seems to extend grace so that they will repent of. And of course, that statement cannot be made without a scripture. So let's go to 2 Timothy and I will show you what I'm talking about. Go to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy, when, remember, I told you, you are to read 1 Timothy and Titus, and you will have more context of the things that I'm saying. But in 2 Timothy, just as in 1 Timothy, Paul is giving instructions to Timothy as the elder, as the pastor, as the shepherd, as the bishop, as the overseer. of the church, right? We know that. So now he's given these directions in chapter number two and he's going to say something very interesting in verse 24.

Let's just read it from 22 so that you will see that he's speaking to Timothy. Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who called on the Lord from a pure heart. You see, he's giving instructions to Timothy, have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant, speaking of Timothy, must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently during evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. This is the type of contrary teaching or contradictory teaching to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ that a person can bring into the church that the apostle through the spirit extends grace. So it's a duty of the elder of the church. to patiently explain to these people that are contradicting, so that the Lord might grant them repentance, removed from taking captive the devil that sits here, and then they might be restored. You see why I don't want to put any unnecessary burden on you?

Because, beloved of Christ, unless you think that you are a perfect person that understands the word of God, as God reveals it, which you will be a delusional human being. We all have, in the sense that I have given to you, heresies in our doctrine. I said to you, if you do not understand the definition that I have given you, then the words that I'm saying will be very offensive to your flesh. But if you consider other doctrine, other teaching, other way that deviates from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of us have shortcomings in an understanding of scripture. And not only that we don't understand something, but rather that we hold to something that we say that we understand and believe, which could be wrong.

Now, the problem with this, the problem with this, beloved of Christ, is that as you read 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus, you will see that a progressive rebellion in contrary teaching, that is, that a person who does not accept the admonition or the exhortation of the brother saying, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. You will see in Titus and also in Timothy that that person is given over to the false teaching and then being the type of person that we are dealing with in 2 Peter chapter 1, chapter 2. That is the one that falls into a destructive heresy. Let me just add something else to this concept of heresy, something that is very important that we understand. I heresy, spiritually speaking, beloved of Christ, I heresy, spiritually speaking, is a work of the flesh.

I heresy is a work of the flesh. So just as we have the fruits of the Spirit, remember in Galatians chapter 5? Before the fruits of the Spirit, we have the works of the flesh. Go there to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5.

It says in verse 19, Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, feats of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions. Or in your other Bibles, you may have the word heresy. Envy, drunkenness, urges, and things like this. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So just as the Holy Spirit gave each one of the words of the Bible, and that word that is used in 2 Peter 2, verse 1, is used here also in Galatians chapter 5 as a work of the flesh.

That means that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian, that which we naturally come to and the conclusions that we arrive to in the flesh are heresy, based on the definition that I gave you. All your understanding, all your years of Christianity, that is being labored in the flesh and not in the Spirit. The wisdom that is established upon the faith, better, that is established upon the wisdom of men, and not a faith that is established upon a demonstration of the power of the Spirit, who is wise, who has eternally kept for us a wisdom that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has come into the heart of anyone, Apart from the workings of the Spirit, a person will always arrive to teachings that are different to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as I said, not all of them are destructive heresies and not all of them are damnable heresies. But that which does not accord to the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, does not accord to godliness, is other teaching in another doctrine.

I hope that you have that clear in your mind to even just go and review what I said or even just ask a question so that we may get deeper into it. But biblically speaking, beloved of Christ, that is what the word heresy means. Now, I'm okay continuing to use the word heresy as generally speaking, we use it historically. But I want you to see the strictness of Scripture and the importance of truth in Scripture. There might be a hundred views on a particular topic, but God has only one.

And if God intends his people to know his truth, so then that means that arriving to that truth is possible because he wants to reveal that to us. That which he has intended to reveal to us is meant to be understood. not through the ways of men, but through the ways of God. That should give us a perspective that, OK, it's OK that there's 100 views on a particular topic. But Lord, show me your truth.

When was the last time that we labor in the Word in such a way, before going to commentaries and before going to men and to things to understand opinion on a particular topic, that you weep, pray, spend days and nights studying Scripture? You think that the Lord will honor your YouTube, partially read books, partially read systematic theologies, instead of honoring diligence in Scripture with a heart in the Lord? Brothers and sisters, this explains much of the state of the contemporary church, because these are ways that are different to the ways of the Lord, different ways to the ways of the Lord. What I'm just saying here, beloved of Christ, and just I've forgotten everything that I was going to say, but just what I'm just saying here, beloved of Christ, is that the battle is a battle between truth, which is of the Spirit, and the flesh which is of Satan." Because, beloved, here we have in Galatians chapter 5 that the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God.

It is only the fruit of the Spirit. It's only the works of the Spirit, the ones that will inherit the kingdom of God, because the works of the flesh are under the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. And Satan is the father of lies, and his main interest is that we will not walk in the truth, know the truth of the Scripture, and that we will believe lies. Satan is happy and filled with joy when a church has five different understandings of a particular doctrine. Satan is happy and filled with joy when the church has 125 different opinions on a particular matter of Scripture.

And Satan is happy when the many different hundreds and thousands of different views on a particular topic are okay. to live with their view and not labor in the Word and in the Spirit to be given the truth that is required for machidification, conformity to Christ, and power in the exercising of the duties that the Lord has given to the church. Beloved of Christ, see the seriousness of this, because the lies of Satan They can be disguised with many, many, many things, right? They can be disguised with many things to the point that they seem very close to that which is true. And actually, that is the teaching of the apostle in 1st Timothy and 2nd Timothy, that they are so close that they have the appearance of godliness, that it is not that you can point them and say, that is clearly wrong, but rather they are so deceitful that they will not be seen by the naked or by the human eye.

But even though the lies of Satan are so close to externally manifest the similarities with that which is of the Spirit, they do not have a power. And that is the power of godliness and the power of Christ's life in the soul and in the life of a man. Because as we read in 1 Timothy chapter 6, the sound doctrines and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ is the teaching, the sound, healthy teaching that corresponds to godliness. Because the true teaching of the Word will always produce the fruits of the Lord Jesus Christ in the one who holds. And this is very important, because when we go to 2 Peter, we see that the apostle says that these men are denying even the Lord who bought them.

that these men who are bringing secretly these heresies, you see, they bring them secretly because they are servants of Satan, as the Apostle Paul will say in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. Ministers of Satan, ministers that they seem to be of the light, but they disguise as servants of light, but they are servants of Satan, so they will bring these teachings secretly. But that's no matter, it does no matter how strong they labor to keep these teachings, and to protect them or keep them from the eyes of those who are walking in the truth, they will never be able to produce in and of themselves the real genuine fruits of what the truth of the Scripture does in the soul of a person, so that they will end up denying the master who bugged them. What is the meaning of that? I'm just going to give it to you, and then we're just going to see it from Scripture, what denying the Lord Jesus Christ means.

These men profess to speak the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, but with their lives, which they do not have power to control. They have power to control their mouths and to speak Christian words and to preach like if they were Christian, to speak truth as if they were Christian, even to say things that are truth of the scripture. But their power, which is a power sufficient to lie with the mouth, is not sufficient for them to live the lives that are required in the grace of the Lord. When you study the word deny, and I was supposed to do that, but we're not going to do it. You will see that denying the Lord Jesus Christ can be both verbally that those who deny me, I will deny.

It says in 1st 2nd Timothy, but also that the denying of the Lord Jesus Christ can be a practical denying. with the life of the person so that the person is speak something with his mouth, professing to be wise, professing to be a teacher of the law, not knowing what they say, not the things which they believe. But then with their works and with their lives, they deny the master who supposedly bought them. The master, the Lord that they profess to believe, the master, the Lord that they profess to be teachers of, the master, the Lord that they profess to be servants of, is the Lord and the master that they deny with their lives. Because they're empty, satanic, demonic teachings that do not have the power to move them into glorious Christ-like godliness, which only the Spirit of God can give to a sinful, broken, limited man.

Beloved of Christ, the denying of these men is a practical denying, which you can clearly see in the parallel book in Jude. Remember that I've said to you a few times that 2 Peter is parallel with Jude. So if you go to Jude, if you go to Jude, You will see it here in Jude in verse three. It says, Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in and not who long ago were designated for this condemnation.

Sounds similar, right? And godly people. Who pervert, who pervert the grace of our God. into lewdness or into sensuality, or in Spanish we say, you know, as you have freedom and then once you go beyond your freedom, then you're actually rebelling. That's what we say in Spanish.

The grace that gives you a certain freedom and then you go beyond that freedom. They turn the grace of the Lord God into sensuality and deny our only master. And it's very good that the ESV translates exactly the word as master, which is exactly the same word that is used in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. deny, in the same sense of the 2nd Peter chapter 2, deny our only master and our Lord Jesus Christ. They take the grace that the Lord has given them, the freedom that the Lord has given them, and they turn that into lasciviousness, lewdness.

They take the freedom of God so that internally they work unrighteousness. Come with me to Titus, and then you will see a deeper explanation of the same concept of denying exactly with the same word that is used in scripture. So go to Titus. So remember that we read Titus chapter 1 verse 9, speaking of the qualifications of the elder and how the elder is the one that is to rebuke those who teach other doctrine through sound doctrine. The elder is the one that is to rebuke.

Now we are given some information about these people who are to be rebuked. If you go to verse 13 of chapter 1, it says this testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, those who contradict those who are in opposition. And we have been told, even if you read the previous, that these were just farisical people that we're inserting, you know, we're going to be told there after it says, therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, right? Because they are not sound in the faith.

They are deviated. They are divided. They are contradicting the faith. not devoting themselves to Jewish needs and commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled."

Speaking of these people, "...they profess to know God, And then we have exactly the same vocabulary. But they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient and fit for any good work. It is not a denying with the mouth, but it's a denying with the works, which they cannot produce even of themselves, because as Jude says, they are devoid of the Spirit.

They are not only wrong in their doctrines and teachings, but they are devoid of the Spirit. They do not have the Spirit of God. So even though they profess this master, they profess this lore, They deny the Lord who supposedly bought them and purchased them with their lives. 2 Timothy chapter 3, go there, please. 2 Timothy chapter 3, we will see there the same concept.

I said to you that I had to point you to many scriptures because we need to see clearly from what the Lord says rather than any interpretation. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Now pay attention to this. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful. unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Stop there, please. Sometimes we read all of those things very quickly. We don't allow them just to actually inform us. That is one thing, not the object of our sermon tonight. But second thing, Once you read all of those things which are very unrighteous and wicked, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents and grateful, you will see, OK, this is a person who externally is very easy to identify.

A person that has all of these things going on is a person who externally is a person that is just very easily just to say, yes, you are, you are, you are this person. Yet it says, Verse 5, having the appearance of godliness. You can have the appearance of godliness and have one, two of all of the other scenes in you. You can be a lover of self, a lover of money, a proud and arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless and unpeaceable, slanderous. without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lover of pleasure rather than lover of God, yet externally have the appearance of godliness.

And it says, which is the point that I wanted to make, but denying its power. Remember 1 Timothy chapter 6, that the words of the Lord, that sound doctrine is that which corresponds to the words of the Lord and that which accords to godliness. Because godliness is not a set of moral commands that you are to take and to follow, but the mystery of godliness. is that the Lord Jesus Christ has rescued us. God himself has come in the flesh.

He is the one who has given us life, not only to be justified, but to be like Him. That is the power of godliness. And because these people are taken captive by the deceitfulness of their sin and Satan, they have external appearance of godliness, but they deny its power. With their lives, with their works, they deny its powers. This is Jesus Christ that we preach.

This is Jesus Christ. You know, we are followers of Christ. Yet in the secret place, in the secret place of the mind and of the soul, denying the Lord who supposedly bought them, the one who supposedly purchased them, the one that supposedly gave his life for them. It is a false statement, and that's why sweet destruction will come upon them. Now, beloved of Christ, let me just simply just point you to something very important for us as a church, because, yes, we are speaking about destructive heresies.

And I hope that this is clear from my explanation. that heresy is something more general, biblically speaking, but there's this type of destructive or damnable heresies that usually progress through to to damnation, right? That when a person is contradicting, opposing the teachings of the Lord, then there is this one that ends up in this type of thing. And actually, you can see that in this example in Titus, if you go to Titus, which is what I mentioned before, if you go to Titus chapter three, we will see here an example of that type of damnable heresy, damnable heresy. In Titus chapter 3, in Titus chapter 3, speaking to Titus in verse 9, it says, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

Now, it says, verse 10, as for a person who stirs up division, you know what the word literally is there? Heretic. It is exactly the same word derived from the other instances in which heresy is given. Even if you have another translation, you will have there the word heretic, if that is how you pronounce it. As for a person who stirs up the vision After warning, remember that I told you that there is a type of deviation that you can contradict or instruct with teaching and call to repentance.

After warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is wrapped and sinful. He is self condemned, destructive, heresies, destructive heresies. Now, beloved of Christ, what I want you to see is, first of all, the weight of this doctrine, as it is given in scripture, that anything that is a deviation from the sound perfect, clean, life-giving, empowered-giving words of the Lord Jesus Christ that brings us to godliness. Anything that deviates from that is not true and it is a heresy. Now, it could end up in a damnable heresy, as I think I have tried to explain to you, but beloved of Christ, there is any deviation from it will take us and it is a work of the flesh.

Now, the question that I asked myself as I was thinking about all of these matters, and I don't know if this is the question that you ask yourself, is actually two questions. First question, are they aware? You know, like the false teachers, are they aware of their situation? Are they aware of their condition? And of course, I asked myself that question because I want to know that because I'm supposedly teaching here, right?

Trembling, because are they aware that they are false? Are they conscious that they are false teachers, that they are bringing these things secretly? When I read that for the first time, I said, yes, you know, they are aware they are bringing this secretly. But are they fully aware of the things that they are doing? Now, even though I don't have a full answer to that, tell me if you find it in Scripture.

What I do find in Scripture is two scriptures in 2 Timothy and in 2 Thessalonians that speak of the opposers to the teaching of the Lord as deceivers and also being deceived. And also in 2 Thessalonians says that the Lord sends to the evil or to the opposer and strong spirit of delusion and that they do not know. And then when I go to Matthew chapter 5, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast demons in your name? Didn't we do these mighty things in your name?

I could say that there are hypocrites there, but also I can just plainly say that these people actually believed that they were in the Lord. So what? A serious matter. Don't you think, beloved of Christ, it's a serious matter, eternal matter, eternity, very important. So then the second question that comes to my mind is, Lord, how do I know?

Right? How do I know? If we can be self-deceived, if we can have even a spirit of delusion, you see how even in the Old Testament, there's this strong, difficult passages that people prefer to ignore that says that the Lord sent a lying spirit, lying spirit, delusion. There's nothing that you can do if you are deluded. Is that the word?

Deluded? Delusion? Nothing to do. You are limited to your mind. Whatever your mind says to you, that is your limitation.

And the heart of people could be the worst false prophet that we can have. The conscience, a seer hardened conscience can be the worst false prophet that we can have. We don't need to have a Benny Hinn preaching unrighteous and wicked stuff. We don't need to have any other wicked person preaching things. Our conscience, our hearts can simply be the worst false prophet, telling us peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Telling us it's okay when it's not okay. Telling us it is okay that you remain in that place when it is not okay that you remain in that place. Telling us do not flee from that sin. It is okay. You can remain in that.

Your conscience can be your your worst enemy as a false prophet. So the question I ask myself is, how do I know? How do we know? How do we know the truth from God? How do I know that my understanding of Scripture, and when I come here and I'm preaching to you with, you know, thinking that it's correct, that it is actually correct?

How do I know that when I'm going to give an answer for my soul and yours, that I'm going to say, Lord, you know, like, this is what I understood. And that what I understood is actually what He wanted me to say. How do I know? The answer is I can't. I can't know, but the Spirit of God can give us the understanding.

That is when you go to 1 John chapter 4, because in 1 John chapter 4, we are given the information about how can we actually know. And then it becomes just as simple as this, just as salvation. It does not depend on us. It depends on Him entirely. There's nothing that we can do.

We are left just to fall the cliff, just to be destroyed. We are to give ourselves entirely to Him for our salvation and for our profession of faith, to understand, to depend. And that is the beauty of this, which is foolishness to the flesh, that we are to depend entirely on the Spirit of the Lord. It says, Chapter 4, Beloved, 1 John, right? Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world. You see the relevance of this passage with what we are saying? So it says, to see, it's telling us, test the spirit to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Assuming that we can, but I'm telling you that we cannot.

By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world now. Therefore, they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens.

Or another word, hears us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By these we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Now, who is writing this book? You love it.

Who is writing this book? John, the Holy Spirit through John. And John is an apostle. So he says in verse six, We are from God. Whoever knows God, that is, whoever is genuine and whoever is real and whoever is in God, hears us, listens to us, the voice of the apostles.

Now, he's speaking about his writings and his voice? No, he's speaking about holy men of God were carried out by the Spirit of God, because the interpretation of the Scripture, the prophecy of the Scripture is not of own man interpretation. It is the Spirit of God that moves holy men of God. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. as simple as this.

It is the Spirit of God, the one that points us to the truth of the Word of God. It is the Spirit of God, the one that enables us to listen and hear the words of the apostles and the prophets. It is the Spirit of God, the one that allows us to understand the words of the Lord. Go to chapter 2 in that same book. Memorize or at least put this verse in your mind.

Speaking of the same concept, remember of they went out from us, but they were not of us. You remember that scripture, right? We're not going to read this whole thing because I'm going too long. But if you go to verse 26, please, beloved of Christ, have this in your mind. I write these things to you.

He had written about the Antichrist and false prophets and those who went out of us who were not of us. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But now this hyper spiritual comment that could be offensive to our conservative flesh. But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you. and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just that he has taught you, abide in him." The Spirit of God and his anointing is everything that is needed to see the truth of the Word of God. It is the Spirit of God moving in us, really, not man-made manifestations of the Spirit, not man-made manifestations of intellect and wisdom, but the anointing of the Spirit of the One who abides in us, the ones that brings us to truth. But this is when I have to give you a warning. Beloved of Christ, pay attention to this.

This is when I have to give you a warning because this hearing the apostles and this hearing the voice of God is a purely, completely spiritual experience. It is a fully and completely spiritual. Something that cannot be accomplished in the flesh. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of God. This faith that was originally given to the lost sinner was a faith that was given by hearing the God who he or she was unable to hear naturally.

So the Spirit of God had to give that person ears to hear the words of the Savior saying, come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. They had to hear the Savior saying, grace be upon you, come to me, come to me and your soul is in my hands. They had to hear those words spiritually. And now the hearing of the Christian as he walks towards glory is as spiritual as the hearing that took place when that soul was initially saved. And I have to give you this warning because we have reduced the voice of God to simply reading a scripture.

How many times I've heard, and I said even myself from my lips, trying just to go against charismatic teachings of hearing the voice of God. Oh, if you want to hear the voice of God, you simply read your Bible aloud. Oh, if you want to hear the voice of God, you simply just go to the Scripture and just read it aloud. That's a lie. God has to speak to you for you to hear His voice.

You can paraphrase with your mouth and with your tongue the words that are written. But for God to speak to you, it is needed that your eyes will be open and that the message will go beyond your head into your heart. These are the words of God given to a person. This is the other simplistic approach to scripture. That is just simply, let's just read a scripture.

So then you have Christians who struggle reading their Bible and who are to be told, you have to do it, you have to do it, you have to do it. And they just simply read with their mind in their sports or whatever thing they like, but they have read the Word of God. Not by bread alone the person lives, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And just as we are to labor for the bread that our body needs, we are to labor for the words that come from Holy God. Are we going to approach His Word with unclean hearts as we were meditating through Leviticus and all of these things?

Are we okay with external leprosy? But are we going to come to the Lord with hearts that are completely away? That are in Egypt? With hearts that are in Sodom? With hearts that are in the world?

And then just approach the Word of God externally? And then just simply saying that by just reading aloud is the voice of God? Beloved of Christ, what a little understanding we have of the spiritual matters that save and edify our soul. That's why we're okay to believe in the Trinity when you have not seen the Trinity in Scripture. That's why we're okay to believe in the deity of Christ when you have not seen the deity of Christ in Scripture.

That's why we're okay to speak about the role of elders in the church when you have not seen it in scripture. You have just heard it from someone else that you decided to agree with. and that just was passed on to you and that you just receive it. And that doctrine abides in your head, does not abide in your heart. Because for you to believe that Christ is God, He has to reveal that to you.

For you to believe that God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, He has to reveal that to you. Just go and check the Trinity and the doctrine and how men just go from one place to another trying to explain the Trinity. Men, what they do is that they pick the one that is more famous on YouTube at the moment that they are living, if they have YouTube. Beloved of Christ, the Word of God is as spiritual as the moment we were saved. We are taught by the Spirit of God.

And when you're taught by the Spirit of God, you don't depend on your mind anymore. The well is filled with waters. Not with a broken cistern that the water you put water and just simply goes and then you forget. Then the well is filled with water that endures. And then you are just simply taking from the well and living your life and giving to others.

That is when the well has been filled with the waters that come from the fountain of living water. The early church did not have Bibles, written Bibles. The early preachers did not have things like this. They were just simply speaking and teaching from the Scriptures. And this is how the church was edified and how it was built.

The power of the Spirit of God, teaching to the saints. Now, you may say now that another wording is, OK, so I'm a believer. And because I'm a believer now, I hear the words of God. Now, I received faith from the very beginning. You know, by grace I was saved and I believed and I was inserted to Jesus Christ and I have genuine faith given by the Spirit of God.

Therefore, every time that I think and I read and I study, I hear the words of God. Beloved of Christ, what a thing that is so far from biblical truth. Go to Mark chapter 6 and see the example of the apostles. See the example of the apostles who were not only saved, they had been called by the Lord Jesus Christ, but they live with the Lord Jesus Christ. They had seen the Logos in the flesh.

They had seen God, the begotten of the Father incarnate. They had dwelt with him and lived with him. These are the apostles who saw the miracles and the works and the mighty things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, when they witnessed, you remember in Mark chapter 6, when Jesus miraculously feeds 5,000 people and they saw that how food was multiplied and given to the crowds. Then we are told in verse 45, after that, right?

We're told in verse forty two after he has he had feet, he had fed better the multitude and the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. Verse forty two in chapter six. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who are and those who ate the loves were five thousand men. Now pay attention to this.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to beside him while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.

He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost. and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased, and they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loss, but their hearts were hardened. They had been there.

They had seen with their eyes the miracle. They had not even seen the miracle that had taken place, but they had seen the one who performed the miracle walking there on the water. It is I. And now their hearts were hardened. They did not understand about the loss.

When you go to chapter eight, let's just read that quickly and then I will finish very soon. Chapter eight. It says, expanding about this teaching of they having their hearts hardened and not understanding. Verse 14, Now they had forgotten to bring bread, the disciples, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out!

Be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousands, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?

And they said to him, Seven. And he said to them, Do you not yet understand? Eyes closed, ears closed, hearts hardened. Beloved of Christ, we are not to oversimplify the approaching to the Savior. This is a glorious Blessing given to the saint that we can approach the one that is in his throne reigning.

He has given us the right to approach him through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, but he has given us the spirit so that we will be illuminated so that the words that are spoken and uttered from his holy and perfect mouth will not be a different language to our ears and will not have a different sound to our hearts and will come into our hearts and make them more and more sensitive to the words of the Savior, beloved of Christ. We are in urgent need to indeed have the anointing of the Spirit in us and hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to remove ourselves from hearts that are hardened, and ears that are closed, and eyes that are blind, so that we read, and yet we do not understand. We want to hear the words of God and not the words of men, so that our faith may be established not upon their wisdom, but upon the power, a demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God that is the one that searches everything in the spirit of men and help us to discern that which is spiritual to what is spiritual.

Because it is God the one that illuminates the soul of the person when the word is spoken. But still, up until this point, beloved, I'm just speaking about a type of truth that is communicated to the individual. And just as the heresy of the other teachings of the false prophets produced envy and dissensions and divisions and all of those things, when God indeed speaks to a person, that person is going to produce fruit. You shall know them by their fruits, the Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7, when he's speaking precisely of the false teachers and the false prophets. But now, actually, what I'm going to say now, it is the only thing that I wanted to say in my sermon.

It took me a little bit long. I'm sorry about this. But this is the most important thing that I wanted to say, beloved of Christ. These fruits, these fruits are not assessed by you. These fruits is not a personal assessment of my life and who I was in the past and then who I am now, because your heart is deceitful.

And you can easily be moved by any other spirit or by your mind and then just come to conclusions that satisfy you. You see the work of the flesh, the deceitfulness of the work of the flesh, in your mind when, for instance, when you're trying to obtain holiness and Christ likeness, it is because you are frustrated with yourself. As I said to the men on Friday, when you want to be holy and you want to know scriptures and you want to be like Christ because you are frustrated with yourself and then you are not understanding your relationship and your position before God and the offense that you're seeing is before God, but rather that you are frustrated with yourself. And your own standard of who you should be is not met, and therefore you are frustrated with self, and you become the source of satisfaction and peace to your soul. So that when you tick the boxes, whatever your boxes are, and then you accomplish what you're supposed to do, then your conscience is at peace, but you have appeased your own self-standard, that it is in the flesh and wicked.

The work of the Lord in a man is manifested externally and is assessed externally. It says you shall know them by their fruits. He doesn't say you will know yourself by your fruits. It says you shall know them, ye shall know them by their fruits. That is that if you want to know who I am, You shall know them by my fruits."

And this is the importance of the church, beloved brothers and sisters. that genuine workings of the Spirit of God in a person, so ministering or giving or providing truth unto the heart of that person is going to be manifested externally, and the external manifestation of the voice and words of God into that person will be attested and confirmed by those who are around that person, so you shall know them by their fruits. Your fruits are attested by the Spirit of God inwardly, telling you that you are a child of God and externally by those who are around you who have the ability to discern the fruits of God in a person. This means that if a person is going to grow in conformity to the person of Jesus Christ, die to self and be like the person of Jesus Christ, That person constantly and ongoingly needs an external confirmation that the truth that he or she is receiving is according to the words of God and not just simply their own imaginations and their own conclusions. Because their own imaginations and their own conclusions may be deviated heresies and will never produce the fruits that they require.

But when God speaks to a person, that person is going to be given a fruit, a spiritual fruit, and that fruit is going to be confirmed by those who are around the person. But those who are around the person are supposed to be able intellectually and experientially to assess the fruits of another person. How am I going to assess if what you have is love? How am I going to assess in grace and in the Lord if what you have is joy, peace, or faith, or Christlikeness, if I do not know what it is? If I have not experienced what it is, if I don't have joy in my heart, if I don't have love in my heart, how am I going to assess that you're walking in the Lord if I am not walking in the Lord?

How am I going to assess that you're walking in the truth if I am not walking in the truth? And if I am not walking in the truth, then I'm not only unable to test that if you're walking in the truth, but all of us become so immature that we are just simply contempt with the systematic theology and with the emptiness of a book that profess truth externally but has zero power of godliness. So our fellowship is as shallow as the uncomfortableness allow us. Because getting deeper into our life is going to expose things that are so uncomfortable that I just prefer to keep our level of conversation and intimacy to this shallowness so that I will be able to manage with the uncomfortability or uncomfortableness of dealing with your shortcomings or my shortcomings. And then conversations just become at the shallow level and in the general level because simply we have not experienced the work of the Spirit in our hearts and therefore we are not interested in testing the fruits of the Spirit in our brothers and sisters.

Go to Hebrews chapter 5 and I promise that I will finish very soon. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. Or six. Beloved of Christ, if we want to love one another, if we want to be like Jesus Christ, If we want to have interactions that are in the Spirit and not in the flesh, that means that we are not only going to be receiving the Word of God privately and inwardly and manifesting those fruits by the grace of the Lord, but also that we are concerned with the manifestation of those fruits of the Spirit in the life of our brothers and sisters. I'm unable to assess that in you if I have not lived it.

In fact, many of the glorious and fruitful conversations that I have had with some of you, it is because I'm pointing you to the shortcomings that I have experienced, the shortcomings that I have lived and the sins that I have battled. But because we live in a prideful society in which showing weakness and showing that I don't know something or I'm not something, especially from the teachers, that we just assumed, tried to pretend something that we are not, diminishing the benefit for the congregation. Chapter six, when she's speaking about false prophets, beloved of Christ, remember all of these workings of God in false prophets. It says in verse four in chapter six, for it is impossible in the case of those who once had been enlightened. who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God, and the powers of the age to come."

Let me just tell you. To your eye, it is for you, for you, it's impossible to discern this type of person because this person has been enlightened. This person has tasted the heavenly gift. This person has shared in the Holy Spirit. And this person has tasted the goodness of the word of God.

And this person has even tasted the powers of the age to come. Yet, if they fall away because they were never in Christ and even had faith, it's impossible to restore them again to repentance. Now, how are we going to actually then assess that which is good and that which is evil? The apostle or the author of Hebrews gives us that information in the preceding portion of the scripture. It says in verse 11 of chapter 5, chapter 5, verse 11.

About this we have much to say." Speaking about a difficult doctrine, the order of Melchizedek in the Lord Jesus Christ. So about a difficult doctrine or about a profound doctrine, he says, "...about this we have much to say. And it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing."

Imagine that one has to say that it is difficult to explain because you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, seeing he is a child. Pay attention to this.

But solid food is for the mature. Who is the mature? those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish between good and evil. That it is that the mature is the one that is able to distinguish between good fruit and bad fruit. The one that is to distinguish between the ways of God and the ways of men.

That is the mature that is one to distinguish between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. And that task is given to the church Otherwise, beloved in Christ, we're never going to be built up in loving the Lord Jesus Christ, growing in maturity in the stature of the Lord, the Savior, the Son of God, who is our Savior, our Redeemer." This is the command given to the church that if someone is deviating in a heresy from the sound doctrines of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the church has not only the knowledge from a book or a video, a partially read book, But actually no one understand the Word of God has given fruit in their hearts that they're able to see when the work is of the flesh and the work of the Spirit. So then the one that is brought into alignment to the will of God says, Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

I was going astray, but now the Lord Jesus Christ has brought me into the path of righteousness by the service and by the love of my brothers and sisters who are skilled in the work of righteousness, who do not only need milk, but need the solid food that make them mature to distinguish between good and evil. And that's how the church is edified. Amen.