Thank you, congregation. What a wonderful privilege it is to express the doxologies of our heart in song. Take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter 11; we are continuing to make our way verse by verse through this epistle. And this is actually the second of what I believe will be a three part series under the heading "Purity of Devotion to Christ." So once again, we return to the Apostle Paul's defense of his apostolic authority and his gospel message; a section of his epistle that is profoundly instructive to every believer. In fact, many Christians live in a fool's paradise because they have failed to heed the Spirit's warning contained herewith. So follow along as I read this passage once again, Second Corinthians 11, beginning in verse one. 

"I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 

For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 

But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way, we have made this evident to you in all things." 

May I remind you that it was very distasteful for Paul to defend himself, and as we see throughout both First and Second Corinthians, he did so very reluctantly, but he had to do so for the sake of the Gospel - for the glory of Christ. And what follows are three reasons that they should bear with what he called his foolishness, his defense of himself. And you will recall we looked at the first one last week. Let me give all three of them to you, and we will look at the first one a little more this week, and number two, and then the next time we're together we'll look at number three. But he wanted them to bear with him, first of all, because of his zeal for the purity of Christ's bridal church. Secondly, because of his fear of their vulnerability for a false gospel. And then finally, because of his distress over their love for manipulative theatrics over transforming truths. 

Now notice again, in verse two, he says, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." You will recall that Paul saw himself as the spiritual father of these people, and the Corinthian church, therefore, he considered his spiritual daughter. And as such, they were betrothed to Christ, and not some false Christ, not some phony made up Jesus, like what the false apostles were preaching. And of course, it was always the father's duty to preserve the purity of his virgin daughter who was to be the wife of the man that she was engaged to. So the image of betrothal underscores the Corinthian's marriage to Christ, and by extension, all believers. We're all ultimately married to Christ. We're awaiting the consummation of that relationship when we are presented to him at his second coming. And as their spiritual father, once again, he must preserve his daughter's purity for her husband. So, he says in verse three, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." And so this brings us once again, to the first point in our little outline, he had a zeal for the purity of Christ's bridal church. And it's crucial for each of us who know and love Christ to take this warning very seriously. We need to recognize the schemes of the devil and how they may be at work in our life and our family, certainly in our community. 

He uses the phrase, "led astray." It could be translated "corrupted." He's speaking of the corruption of the mind as a result of embracing false teaching that's contrary to Scripture, imbibing wrong views, especially concerning the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and God's plan and purpose in redemption. It carries the idea of departing from the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, as we read earlier in Jude three. Dear friends, there is nothing more deadly or damning than a mind that has been corrupted by satanic deceptions, what Paul calls doctrines of demons. This will inevitably lead you astray and ultimately move you towards apostasy - a defection from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that alone can save and bring glory to God. It will lead you away from the true gospel, and you will begin to devote yourself to a false gospel that is pleasing to men. But a gospel that cannot save but will only condemn. 

I'm reminded of what Paul warned the saints at Galatia in Galatians one beginning in verse six, he says, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men. If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ." And in chapter three and verse one, he says, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you....? That is the great danger. 

It's fascinating when you look back over history, even before the blood of Christ on the cross was dry, and the age of miraculous signs and wonders were still at work, defection was already happening. Christians were being seduced by false teachers, even as they were here in Corinth; false teachers that came in and preached a mixture of Jewish legalism as well as the super-secret knowledge of Greek Gnosticism. And this gave birth to monasticism, later on, and asceticism, and eventually the Roman Catholic Church, which is the oldest of all apostate religions that is still flourishing to this day. By the end of the first century, five of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation, two and three were already in various stages of apostasy, including the church at Ephesus, and like a wildfire on the prairie, deception was spreading across the plains of the church. The godly 19th century English evangelical Anglican bishop of Liverpool, J.C Ryle gives us a brief history, I'll read it to you. He wrote this in the late 1800s. He said, "False doctrine in the Middle Ages so completely overspread the church that the truth as it is in Jesus was well-nigh buffed or drowned. During the last three centuries before the Reformation, it is probable that very few Christians in Europe could have answered the question, 'What must I do to be saved?'" Sounds like today, doesn't it? He went on to say, "Popes and cardinals, abbots and priors, archbishops and bishops; priests and deacons, monks and nuns were, with a few rare exceptions, steeped in ignorance and superstition. They were sunk into a deep sleep from which they were only partially roused by the earthquake of the Reformation. Here again, was the corruption of men's minds." Referring to what Paul is saying here in our text. Ryle went on to say, "False doctrine since the days of the Reformation has continually been rising up again and marring the work which the Reformers began. Neologianism in some districts of Europe..." Which, by the way, is just the invention of new theologies, people just make stuff up. "Neologianism in some districts of Europe, Socinianism and others, Formalism and Indifferencianism, and others have withered blossoms which once promised to bear good fruit and made Protestantism a mere barren form. Here again, has been the corruption of the mind." By the way, Socinianism, if I can take you into history a little bit. It was a heresy first presented by Fausto Sozzini, in the mid 1500s. He denied the full deity of Christ, he denied predestination, he denied original sin, total inability, man's inability to convert himself. He denied the atonement, penal substitution, justification by faith alone. He affirmed a salvation by works that was really very much a part of Roman Catholicism then and today. So folks again, think about this. This is why the Apostle Paul was so concerned. This is why he had such a zeal for the purity of Christ's bridal church. The Holy Spirit knew this was coming, and folks it is still here today. 

And this leads us to the second reason Paul wanted them to bear with his foolishness - his defense of himself, his apostolic authority, his gospel message, and that was because of his fear of their vulnerability for a false gospel. Notice verse four, there we read, "For if," it could be translated, "since,"  "one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received..." - and again, he's not referring to the Holy Spirit, but a demonic spirit - "....or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." He's using sarcasm here. It's like, I can't believe it, you welcome these charlatans, into your church and give them the pulpit with open arms; it's inconceivable, you allow them to ascend the sacred desk and preach deception, "you bear this beautifully." Can there be any greater evidence of their vulnerability, their lack of discernment than this? It's not at all uncommon to listen to preachers today, in many sectors of evangelicalism, and hear them preach things that are just twisted and distorted. Man is exalted, not Christ. So often, what is being said is a mixture of comedy and self-adulation disguised in a false humility. And many times, rank heresy. And so often, I think, how can anyone who loves Christ possibly sit and listen to that? I'm sure Paul thought the same thing when he realized what was happening in Corinth. 

Now, granted, he was only there for 18 months, but look what happened after he left. I've been here for 25 years, but I must confess, knowing how seductive the enemy is, I fear what might happen when I am gone. It will probably take a while, but if someone else doesn't full the pulpit and hold the line, we will go the same way. 

Now I'm compelled to warn you very specifically this morning, of at least five dominant false gospels that are prevalent in our culture today. By the way, a false gospel is one that causes a person to place their hope and their trust of being justified in the sight of God in something other than the finished work of Christ. If I can say that differently, false gospels would have us believe that that our acceptance and approval by God is found in something other than what Christ has done on our behalf. The first example that I would like to give you is the salvation by works gospel. This is a heresy that's prevalent today, and many times in subtle forms, but it basically says that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, just made salvation possible, but man must take the initiative and make it happen; that we somehow must cooperate with God in order to be saved and to stay saved. And of course, the Judaizers in the first century were notorious for this. Remember, they said, well, what Christ did isn't really enough, you also have to be circumcised, or you also have to obey the Old Testament, law, etc. Roman Catholics will teach a similar thing, that you obtain the grace of justification by actively working towards it. There are legalistic groups all over the place. You have certain rules that you have to obey, and it's always an endless list of them. And people that are caught up in these groups are always feeling guilty. They're always feeling frustrated, afraid that they're not going to make the cut, you know? And if you feel a little guilty, what do you do? Well, you come up with another rule, and legalism always gives you the illusion of spirituality. Salvation is not by grace alone, through faith alone, but rather, it is by grace plus works, faith plus works. 

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 52% of Protestants in the US say that, quote, "Both good deeds and faith are needed to get into heaven." A historically Catholic belief. By the way, no true believer would believe that. What a contrast to Galatians two and verse 16, where the apostle Paul said that a man, "...is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified." And it's for this reason that the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians in First Corinthians two, "That I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." When you look at these various false religious systems and the cults that preach these types of things, you will see a whole list of things that you must do to earn God's favor. I'll give you a few. You've got to donate money or tithes, participation in secret rituals, abstaining from certain foods or beverages, spending hours each month fundraising through literature, distribution or the selling of trinkets or flowers; recruitmentof new members, observing certain holy days, not observing certain holy days or holidays, obeying the 10 Commandments or/and other laws. Baptism by the organization, maintaining membership in the group, abstaining from medical treatments, purchasing the programs or literature needed for enlightenment; loyalty and obedience to superiors, limiting contact with former members or others outside the group, and on and on it goes, beloved, none of that will gain you favor with God. The only thing that gains favor with God is the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Dear friends, please understand, as Paul said in Romans 8:1, "There is now no condemnation for those who are..." what? "...in Christ." His life alone satisfied the righteous demands of the law, not his life plus mine. This was consistent with Paul's desire, expressed in Philippians 3:9 to, "...be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."

Beloved, if I could add this, the gospel offer of salvation is not a gift of grace that comes through Christ. It is Christ. You must understand, Christ is the gospel. Christ is not merely a means to an end, but he is the all sufficient and all glorious end in himself. None of the benefits of saving grace exist separately from him, but only in him. For this reason, we can rejoice with Paul and say, as he did in Ephesians one three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." 

A second false gospel that we're all familiar with is the prosperity gospel. This teaches that material blessings come to those who believe in Jesus. One heretic has written a book called your best life. Now, Jesus died to give us health and wealth and success and power, and if you have enough faith, you can manipulate God to hand out the goodies. That's how it works. CostiHinn, the nephew of the infamous faith healer Benny Hinn, has exposed his father's...or his uncle's fraud, and among other things, he explains how that these prosperity preachers twist three versions of biblical truth to support their heresy. Let me give them to you real briefly. First of all, they believe that Christ's atonement means abundant life now. They also believe secondly, God's covenant with Abraham means inheritance now. And then, faith is a force you can use to control God. And about a half a billion people worldwide are caught up in some form of prosperity gospel. Some of you have come out of that. Basically, it's a religious pyramid scheme. It's a con. John MacArthur said, quote, "The Gospel that is driving those surging numbers is not the true gospel, and the spirit behind them is not the Holy Spirit." End quote. Beloved God doesn't promise health and wealth. He promises forgiveness of sin. He promises us imputed righteousness. He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He promises eternal life, but he also promises suffering and sorrow this side of glory, and he also promises us that the world is going to hate us, as it hates him. But aren't you thankful? As Paul said, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." 

A third false gospel that is so common today, and sweeping evangelicalism is the social justice gospel. They would have us believe that God's Kingdom is advanced by working together to build an equal and just society, that is, according to how the world defines equality and justice. And they have no problem working with unbelievers to accomplish those ends. They see no problem with the fact that the term social justice is a communist term, and they have no problem embracing the values of secular culture that utterly undermines scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity and and manhood and womanhood, human sexuality and so forth. I grieve over some who, even in our own church, have been deceived by prominent evangelicals, people that are now caught up in the blasphemous deceptions of Neo Marxism - this whole woke movement, people that believe in systemic racism. They're all about reconciling sinful man to sinful man, but they don't give a hoot about reconciling sinful man to a righteous God through faith In Christ. And they embrace the gross immoralities of the LGBTQIA plus movement. They've got an I A plus in there now. 

And by the way, this is such a sad thing. I've worked with, and I know a number ofhomosexuals that have come to faith in Christ. And it's a glorious thing to behold, to see the transforming power of the gospel in their life, but so many people are still caught up in it. I had to look it up to make sure I understood what this means. It means lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual, and the plus allows the term to cover all different subsets, like allies, pansexual, androgynous and polyamorous. Polyamorous, by the way, means being romantically involved with more than one person at a time. Beloved any theology that misrepresents scripture and leads people away from the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ is a false gospel, especially a gospel that somehow mixes this poison in with the purity of the true gospel. You know, snake venom is 90% protein and it won't hurt you. It's that 10% that'll kill you. This is a gospel that embraces intersectionality, radical feminism and critical race theory. 

I've had several of you ask, "can you explain critical race theory in in a nutshell?" Critical race theory is rooted in what was called critical theory, a Neo-Marxist philosophy that is rooted in the Frankfurt Karl Marx school. Karl Marx is at the very core of it, along with Sigmund Freud. Critical race theory claims that institutional racism exists within every structure of society, and that these structures are intrinsically designed to protect and preserve white supremacy in our culture. And you know, what's truly remarkable but not surprising, is that those who adhere to this theory do so only on the basis of anecdotal evidence and personal experience. They cannot demonstrate the veracity of these claims through empirical, factual, statistical evidence. Yet many woke evangelicals not only embrace these fabricated and politically motivated myths, but worse yet, they insist that these things are a part of the gospel. I can't tell you how offensive that is to me, and I hope you are equally offended. I will have no fellowship with people who preach that, because that is dishonoring to Christ. Dear Christian, anytime you add to, or detract from the gospel, you pervert it into another gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, not the word of Christ plus the word of man. Of course, Satan knows all of this. This is why he deceived Eve, and this is why he employs false teachers to do the same today. A 

A fourth false gospel is what I would call the entertainment feel good gospel. Oh, this is a powerful one. You can pack stadiums with this one. It's the favorite among ear tickling heretics because it draws a crowd. But may I remind you that there's a big difference between a crowd and a church. They basically teach that Jesus loves everyone and just accepts everyone the way they are, and we should do the same. I call it kind of the smiley face Jesus, the Jesus that winks at sin, but oh, Jesus that hates those who preach doctrine because doctrine divides. Jesus hates those who preach about sin and righteousness and judgment. Which, by the way, were the very things that Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do when he came. If you listen to the music. It's kind of, Jesus is my lover, Jesus is my girlfriend music. Jesus is my BFF. Not the Son of God who deserves our utmost worship and praise and obedience. Their message is entertaining, it's funny, it's full of satire, as well as saccharin, kind of syrupy stories, sure to bring a tear to your eye. Preachers, both male and female, that preach this stuff, if you listen to them, you will quickly see that they are not only theologically illiterate, they are narcissistic to the core. They just make up stuff. I was listening to one of the most prominent female preachers of this day, just absolutely ludicrous. Ridiculous drama queen antics and comedy routines and false prophecies. I've listened to a number of these kind of people, and when you hear what they preach, I find myself being overwhelmed by the ingenious nature of the deceptions. And even though what they say is demonstrably false and can be refuted exegetically, you don't even know where to begin, it is all so twisted up. But boy, does it please the crowds. The true gospel is nowhere to be found. They look at a passage of scripture and the authorial intent of that passage is nowhere to be found. They use a passage to jump off into something they want to talk about that will ultimately draw attention to themselves. Christ is not exalted, the preacher is. And worse yet, the unfathomably glorious message of Christ, crucified, buried and raised again and coming again, is utterly eclipsed by the distorted theology and showmanship. It's nothing more than entertainment to make people feel good, to kind of feel spiritual, rather than to cause them to bow down and worship the living Christ. But everybody has a good time, lots of laughs, even some tears, and they all go home feeling good about themselves, until in the middle of the night, their conscience begins to eat away at them and the gnawing guilt of their sin and the reality that there is a God, and one day they're going to have to stand before him that begins to help them, I shouldn't say, help them, cause them to feel the alienation that is theirs because they are apart from Christ; their enmity with God, it assaults their conscience. And so what do they need? Oh, they need another fix. Let's go in and have somebody tell me how good I am. And on and on it goes. 

A fifth and the final one that I will give you today is one that I've talked about before, but I want to repeat it again, and I've written about this as well. I would call it the gospel of moralistic therapeutic deism. And this is perhaps one of the most graphic manifestations of how unregenerate pseudo-Christian people think, especially in the typical Christian teenager. And as you will see, this is a tragedy that dominates almost every acre of the landscape of Protestant evangelicalism. Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the national study of youth and religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, observed the essence of this danger after conducting more than 3000 interviews with American adolescents to determine their religious beliefs. And they discovered this deception that they identified as, quote, "moralistic therapeutic deism." And according to these researchers, here's the thinking: number one, "People believe that a god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.... God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions." Thirdly, they believe, "The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself. "Number four, "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem." Number five, "Good people go to heaven when they die." The researcher says, "That in some is the creed to which much adolescent faith can be reduced. When it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs, many adolescents responded with a shrug and a 'whatever.'" He went on to say, "As a matter of fact, the researchers found that the American teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about their religious beliefs, and most are virtually unable to offer any serious theological understanding." And I might add that is also indicative of most people that are in evangelical churches today. He went on to say, "To the extent that the teens we interviewed did manage to articulate what they understood and believed religiously, it became clear that most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe, or they do not understand it and simply do not care to believe it. Either way, it is apparent that most religiously affiliated US teens are not particularly interested in espousing and upholding the beliefs of their faith traditions, or that their communities of faith are failing in attempts to educate their youth, or both." Researchers explained, quote, "For most teens, nobody has to do anything in life, including anything to do with religion. 'Whatever' is just fine, if that's what a person wants." 

My how different that attitude is from the tax collector in Luke 18, who when confronted with his sin, was so overwhelmed with guilt and unworthiness, he said, the text says, that he was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner." Jesus said in Luke 16:16 that, "...the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached," and when it is, "...everyone is forcing his way into it." This denotes a a vigorous, forceful pressing into the kingdom. In fact, Jesus expanded upon this concept, this warning, in Matthew 11 and verse 12, he said that, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." In other words, despite the relentless opposition to the kingdom of God, it will never be subdued by the wickedness of men or the power of Satan and those who see their sin and see the glory of the Savior will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, forcefully press their way into the kingdom, even if it cost them their life. Today in America, "One in four born again Christians embrace universalist beliefs when it comes to salvation," according to a Barna analysis of trend data. By the way, Barnadefined "universalism" as the belief that all human beings will eventually be saved after death. And that's pretty much what everybody believed today. Just go to the average funeral. It doesn't matter what a scoundrel the person was, oh, they're in a better place now. 25% of born-again Christians said, "All people are eventually saved or accepted by God." A similar proportion, 26% said, "A person's religion does not matter, because all faiths teach the same lessons." And an even higher proportion, 40% of quote, "born again Christians" said they believe Christians and Muslims worship the same God. By the way, once again, dear friends, no one who is truly born again would believe any of that stuff. A California based research and polling firm defines "born again Christians" as people who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and who believe they will go to heaven after death because they confess their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Well, that all signs sounds fine and dandy, but dear friends, anyone that would believe those heresies is not born again, and they will one day learn otherwise. 

You see, what is missing in that profession of faith is a person who is humbly submissive and obedient to the Lordship of Christ. Jesus says, "If you love me, you will," what? "...keep My commandments." And Matthew seven and verse 21 we read the words of Jesus, who says, "'Not every everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.'" You see, genuine saving faith transforms a person so that they will, by desire - not out of duty - worship and serve and honor and obey the Lord Jesus Christ,

Beloved, this is how the enemy works, and this is why Paul was so concerned. And this is why we should be so concerned; even as Satan deceived Eve, he continues to deceive countless millions through false teachers, through false gospels that cannot save, false teachers influenced by demonic spirits, ancient spirits who serve Satan, the father of lies. And may I remind you that they have intelligence that is far superior to ours. That's why they are so exceedingly deceptive, so cunning; far more deceptive than we are discerning. And were it not for the Word of God, where would we be? This is why we are warned in Ephesians six beginning in verse 11, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against this the schemes of the devil." Schemes translates the Greek word "methodeia." We get our word "methods" from that. And there, it refers to doing something deceptive in a systematic way. It implies an orderly step by step arrangement of trickery; a well conceivedplan. And he goes on to say, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." 

It's fascinating, there in that text, he gives us four different ranks of supernatural, demonic forces in Satan's kingdom of darkness from which every believer has been delivered. And what's fascinating is that every strata of evil has with it individual responsibilities relating to deception, all in an effort to thwart the purposes of God in redemption. And dear friends don't think they don't study you and your family. Don't think that they don't lay snares in the well-worn paths of your sinfulness, likewise in this church. "Therefore..." Paul says, "...take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day..." By the way, "resist" that's an important term. He did not say so that you can "rebuke." We don't rebuke Satan. He did not say so that you can "bind" Satan. But don't you wish you could do that, bind that rascal once and for all, it'd be over with. No, it doesn't say that. It does not say so that you can "exorcise" demonic forces through incantations and so forth, so that you will resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. That's why in James four, six, James says, "submit to God," there's the power, "submit to God." And then he says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 

Beloved, our only weapon is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God and prayer. Again, that's why, in Second Corinthians 10 four, Paul reminds us that, "...the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." Now, I think it's fair to ask, my goodness with this kind of supernatural weaponry available to the saints, why are so many Christians deceived? Well, part of it is because most people who call themselves Christian are not Christian. But secondly, many Christians are ignorant of and indifferent towards the word and the will of God. Instead, they want to have their ears tickled rather than their hearts convicted, And as a result, they're easy prey for charlatans. I mean, just look at all of the foolish people that have voted to put the type of people that we now have in power in this country in the offices that they're in; they have voted their own destruction and they can't see it. Instead, they celebrate these people. First, John two and verse 18, John says, "...even now, many antichrists have appeared...." Chapter four and verse one, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." He went on to say, "...every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." This is why, in Second Timothy 1:15 Paul lamented over the spiritual defection that he was experiencing, that he was witnessing. He said, "You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phylegus and Hermogenes. And then again, at the end of the epistle in chapter four and verse 16, he mourned, saying, "At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them." 

My, what a heartbreak it is to see people you love get sucked into some false theology, some false gospel. Paul warned the saints in Thessalonica in Second Thessalonians two and verse seven, he said, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work..." And my don't we see that lawlessness against God's righteous standard? It's already at work, and this was back in the first century - "...only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way."  In other words, until the Spirit of God steps aside, then that lawless one will be revealed. It's amazing, isn't it, at the very moment God has ordained an eternity past, Satan, who has been promoting the spirit of lawlessness, will indwell a man who is called the antichrist. He will be a counterfeit incarnation of Christ; a man who will be the very embodiment of evil. And he will come to do his father's will, even as Jesus came to do his Father's will. And that man may well be alive this very day. We don't know. But Paul went on to say, "...The Lord will slay this man with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish..." Why? "...Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." Instead, they preferred another gospel. 

Oh Child of God, please hear the word of the Lord here. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, and it's at work in your life, your family's life, your community's life, your country's life. I've seen so many Christians who I thought were discerning be deceived. In Matthew 26 and verse 35 we read how Peter said to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." Never say never right? "Jesus said to him, 'Truly, I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.' Peter said to Jesus, 'Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.' And all the disciples said the same thing too." And then later in the garden, in verse 41, Jesus says to them, "'Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; he spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" And what happened when they came to arrest Jesus? Verse 56, "all the disciples left him and fled." Beloved, I would have been among them. You would have to. Are you watching and praying? 

Then later, we know that Peter denied the Lord three times verse 75, "And Peter remembered that the word which Jesus had said, 'Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly." I mean, think about it, if Peter could deny the Lord after such intimate contact with him, could we not do the same? Beloved rather than being suspect of our spirituality, we tend to be smugly indifferent towards it, though we would never let on. Some of the signs of being led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion of Christ are, frankly, almost imperceptible. It's like the beginning stages of cancer when you can't tell what's going on, you can't see the abnormal cells dividing out of control, invading tissues, causing solid tumors to develop, spreading throughout your body. You don't know what's happening. You don't even know what's feeding it. 

Dear friends, such as the malignancy of sin, very often fueled by ignorance of the Word of God and stubbornness to obey it; the result of self-righteous pride, rather than humbly submitting to the Word of God and guarding our hearts against sin. We embrace these novel interpretations, these new, cool things that come up in our culture. We accumulate teachers, as Paul said, in accordance to our own desires, who tell us what we want to hear. And then gradually, as he said in Second Timothy 4:3, "we turn away our ears from the truth and turn aside unto myths." A low standard of holiness is sure to follow. I see it all the time, people that embrace the ungodly standards of the world; they embrace the culture. I see it in the women with immodest dress. See it with people with immoral lifestyles and infatuation with ungodly entertainment, crude language. Gradually, the people drift away from their Christian friends, they drift away from the church because, after all, the church is so judgmental. That's not the spirit of our age. We want to love people like Jesus loved them. We find new friends that accept us just the way we are, and then we begin to look like them. We begin to think like them. We begin to act like them. Adopt their values. We end up living in a fool's paradise. We quench the Spirit. We grieve the spirit. We begin to walk in the flesh, manifesting the fruits of the flesh rather than the Spirit. We forfeit blessing in our lives, and we begin to experience divine chastening, and we don't even realize it; such is the slippery slope of sin. 

Then people that claim their Christians become - and I've made a little list of what I've seen in the last year of people that I know in the last year - they become potheads, alcoholics, fornicators, sodomites, pedophiles, transgenders and apostates. Obviously, they do not worship and serve with us here at Calvary Bible Church because they're unregenerate. They leave the church. "They went out from us, but they were not really of us," First John 2:19. "For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us." Dear friends, make sure that you're not being deceived, even as the serpent deceived Eve; make sure that you're not being led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. And by the way that devotion to Christ will cause you to become more conformed into his likeness. People will see you, and they will begin to see Christ, and you will enjoy more fully all of the blessings and joys that are yours in him. 

And I close with the words of the great Puritan, George Swinnick. I believe this is even in your bulletin. He said, quote, "The holiness and happiness of the rational creature consists in these two - His Holiness in conformity to God, his happiness in communion with Him. And these two have a dependence on each other. They only who are like Him can enjoy Him." and may this be the all-consuming passion of each of our lives. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the clarity of your word. It's hard to hear because we all feel the sting of the lash on our backs. We're thankful for your grace, but o, how we need your help to live in such a way as to enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ. And Father, if there be one here today that has just played a religious game but does not truly know you, please take the blinders off of their eyes, help them to see the true gospel and be saved. We thank you and we praise you for all that you have done, are doing, and will do, in your redeemed. For it's in Christ's name that I pray, Amen.