My Sermons 2017-Jul-16 - False Prophets

Context:

Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; [19] and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Exodus 32:33 NKJV

And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

The Warning in Rev 22 is much strong than what was given in the OT

Deuteronomy 4:2 NKJV

You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Proverbs 30:5-6 NKJV

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. [6] Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

The intentions of God are very clear just by reading these few Verses:

• God has testified all the scriptures in the Bible.
• God's word is Holy and Pure
• We shall not add / remove any scripture from the Bible.
• We know that anyone who does that shall face very serious consequences from our Lord! And He is not joking when He says that!

One of the Things that Satan likes to do today in Church is to take hold of the preacher / believers and implement the Divide and conquer rule:

Many times when we are passing through hard moments in our life when we want to give up,   If Bible has not been the source of our strength, We would be vulnerable to:

1. Any teaching that would comfort and please us.
2. Would you ready to compromised the truth of God with the False interpretation
3. You ears would be inclined to things what only you want to hear.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: [2] Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; [4] and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. [5] But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

• People will be so interested in Stories and Fables rather than being attentive to God's holy word
• People would be extremely interested in the so called New Revelation that the preacher claims has been revealed to him.
• People will be so attentive to the so called Vision and Dreams that this person has had and Ponder about it a lot.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 NKJV

"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, [2] and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'-which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' [3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, 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.

• It may not be that extreme to say let's to after other God's Directly!!, But it all takes a small diversion to drift us away from eternal separation.
• When God has not revealed anything to him and he says that God spoke to him - He is taking about another God for sure.

This is why even Jesus gives us a Firm warning to be Careful from such Losers who professed to have seen Christ

Matthew 24:23-25 NKJV

"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. [24] For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. [25] See, I have told you beforehand.

Why the OT?

Romans 15:4 NKJV

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12 NKJV

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. [12] Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Matthew 24:24 NKJV

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Now let me show to you how the very Elect of God was deceived in the OT  so that we could learn from it.

• Before that lets us read some instructions and Warnings given in the Old Testament regarding False Prophets:

Deuteronomy 13:1-18 NKJV

"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, [2] and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'-which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' [3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, 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. [4] You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. [5] But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. [6] "If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, [7] of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, [8] you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; [9] but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. [10] And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. [11] So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you. [12] "If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, [13] 'Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods"'-which you have not known- [14] then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you, [15] you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock-with the edge of the sword. [16] And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. [17] So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, [18] because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Jeremiah 23:25-40 NKJV

"I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' [26] How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, [27] who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. [28] "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. [29] "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? [30] "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who steal My words every one from his neighbor. [31] Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' [32] Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD. [33] "So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' you shall then say to them, 'What oracle?' I will even forsake you," says the LORD. [34] "And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' I will even punish that man and his house. [35] Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' and, 'What has the LORD spoken?' [36] And the oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man's word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. [37] Thus you shall say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' and, 'What has the LORD spoken?' [38] But since you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' therefore thus says the LORD: 'Because you say this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" and I have sent to you, saying, "Do not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!'" [39] therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. [40] And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"

Isn't these Scriptures Fascinating ??? How the Lord has cared for the life of His children and Forewarned us to be Safe from Evil and Ungodly prophets.

1 Kings 13:1-32 NKJV

And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. [2] Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.'" [3] And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out." [4] So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Arrest him!" Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. [5] The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. [6] Then the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before. [7] Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." [8] But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. [9] For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.'" [10] So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel. [11] Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. [12] And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. [13] Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, [14] and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." [15] Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." [16] And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. [17] For I have been told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.'" [18] He said to him, "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (He was lying to him.)

Duet 13:3

 [3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, 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.

 [19] So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. [20] Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; [21] and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, [22] but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'" [23] So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. [24] When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. [25] And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. [26] Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him." [27] And he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled it. [28] Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. [29] And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. [30] Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!" [31] So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. [32] For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass."

Acts 17:11 NKJV

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

 DEATH BURRIAL AND RESSURECTION OF CHRIST IS THE ONLY SIGN GIVEN TO US:

Matthew 12:38-42 NKJV

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." [39] But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. [40] For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. [41] The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. [42] The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

Jude 1:4 NKJV

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.