Ten Proofs of False Teachers

10 proofs of a false teacher. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about how many false teachers have taught you that might be in your future? One of the reasons I wanted to bring this topic up, I think it's something that we can all learn from. Because, as the scriptures say, there will be wolves in sheep's clothing. Wolves in sheep's clothing. You know who the sheep, who the wolves are. No, in Deuteronomy 18, actually, God warns the people that false prophets will come in. And at that time, He said, put them to death. They do not teach what I have taught you if they teach another God. Put them to death. It was a serious, serious topic. Jeremiah had the same thing a thousand years later. It says men would come in and said, not sent by God to deliver worthless things. Wow. Are we aware of that? Do we understand that He was talking to us? I want you to go with me right now to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23 verse 16. Jeremiah 23 and verse 16, thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophet who prophesied to you. They make you worthless. So it was at that time these prophets were out there. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. Do we see that around us? I think most of us do. We can watch TV. We can watch various YouTube things. And you see these men, like the one behind me, just preaching, preaching, preaching so many of their own words instead of the street from the Bible. Timothy had that admonition from Paul. I'll turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 4 verses 3 and 4. He says, 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, and they will turn their ears away from the truth. They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to tables. tables. tables. Does that talk to us? Does that ring a bell? That's why I'm here today. I want to make sure that you know who is talking to you, what you're listening to, who you might be listening to, and that this warning comes out to all of us, excuse me, because there's more than a few ministers and teachers in the Church of God who have brought us false teachings and doctrines. They cause divisions even in the Church of God. Just think about it. Most of the divisions, most of the problems, most of the apostasy that has come into God's Church down through the years, didn't come from brethren. It came from ministers. It came from the higher-ups. It came from administration.

We need to beware. All of us. It's my job. Cry aloud and spare not. It is my job as a minister to warn you of these, because they have been in the past and they will be in the future. Not only did Paul warn about it, but Peter warned about it. But this is going to happen, and we need to be made aware of it. And I want you to be made aware of it. So, how do these men get off? Why do they get off? Well, there's a few reasons. One of the main ones, egos. Egos. Men get egos because all of a sudden people are listening to them. All of a sudden, people are coming to them for advice. They want to feel important. They get puffed up. They get lifted up and feel like there's something. Now, remind you of Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28.

One came before these men, and one will still be here after. Giving a spirit to men who are to teach the Word of God, teach the truth of God, and turn people to God, not to themselves.

The minister should work for God. That's who we work for. Not for ourselves, but for God to be led by the Holy Spirit, be led by the Word of God.

But men have desired a following. Happened back in Christ's days. Even Gamed talk about it in the Book of Acts. Great Hebrew rabbi who even warned the people that people will be out there to gather people to follow them. And if it's of God, you can't stop it. But if it's not, it will dissolve into nothing. It will turn into nothing. But what happens? What happens to cause this disruption in the churches of God? Now you may think, well, wait a minute. Is the church of God? Well, it kind of proves that it is, because the Scripture says that's going to happen. There's going to be men coming in.

And they're going to bring. Heresy, they're going to bring doctrines that are not from the Bible. They'll bring their own words in. We need to be aware. The problem is, men, they feel blessed by God more than humbled by God in His Holy Spirit. And yes, we are blessed. We're blessed to be called by God. Every member of the church is called by God. And we're blessed by that. And we should be humbled, but not to the point that, oh, we feel less humble than we are blessed.

It should make us turn to our God. Turn and know that we're nothing. He's have a friend of mine. His wife just died, Leon Daniels, and he used to have a radio show on. He always goes, I'm nothing, I know that. We all need to know that. But the leaders, we bet we need to know that. We've been put here to serve, to serve people, to be as Jeff said earlier today, to be the beacon of kindness. We need to lead. We don't need to look around and say, well, isn't that person an example? Isn't that person an example? And say, I wish I was like that. No, the leaders in church need to be that.

We need to lead with kindness. We need to lead with things that are not about us, about the egos. That's why I wanted to hopefully get through this sermon today, because I've had, in my lifetime of 46 years following God's way, I've had some bad teachers. I even took one of my notes here and wrote down a list of false teachers, bad teachers, false prophets. I've had many of those. I want to look at that today. I want to look at some of the attributes of a false teacher, because you need to know. We have to endure to the end. It says, he who endures to the end, the same shall be saved. This is about salvation. This is a serious issue that I've not really had any ministers discuss in my time. I've had a few touch on it, but today I wanted to go into it, because it's very scriptural. I've had men that taught me that went off the track, that they no longer keep the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and some of them are not even religious anymore. It all starts with us recognizing, recognizing the attributes and the qualities of a true teacher compared to a false teacher. I had some friends I went to church with for many years that followed a man that told them, this has been 20-25 years ago, they were all excited following this man, and he told them, wow, we're going to Petra. We're going to Petra! We're going to be there when Christ returns. Get ready, have your stuff ready, have a bag already packed, and he even had them buy Petra shoes, which I'd never heard of before. I don't know if I can type that in Amazon, see if they can deliver it or not, but I don't know that I want them because they had their Petra shoes, but they're both dead now. That was 20-25 years ago, and they were ready to go the next day. Sad that that men would lead people down this road. Now, the same man is teaching that they're going to go, but they're not even going to Petra. They're going to Peron or somewhere like this, and he's been saying that for all these years. Another teacher used to be in the Church of God. He still is in a Church of God, is Church of God.

Someone sent me during the Feast of Tabernacles this year a video of a sermon or words that he was teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles telling the people they wouldn't even need to go home, that Jesus Christ was coming during the Feast of Tabernacles. Remember the one that happened about three weeks ago? And then when he didn't come in the middle of the Feast, he said it's going to be on the Sabbath. And he showed scriptures, read scriptures, that they're going to go. He's coming back on the Sabbath, and it'll be this one, which was the last great day, or the eighth day. But he even hedged and said, well, it may not be in the Eastern time because he may come back six hours earlier in another time zone. Well, he didn't come back.

And people still follow that man.

To me, it's ridiculous. We've had people in our own united. They got lost. Ministers, high-up ministers who started reading the Bible and thought they came up with some new truth.

One even was high enough and had thoughts of trinity and thoughts. And I said, oh, that can't be right. So I went to a couple council members who were there, and they said, yes, he did. Well, thankfully, he's no longer with us. So they come in, but that's the church. But the church stands because we have God's truth as not of some one person's interpretation. It was even a man in a church and God got sent to prison for using church money on anything and everything. And he got sent to prison, came back out, and people still follow him.

When is enough enough? It looks like it's going to be all the way to the time of Christ. There are going to be false teachers, false preachers, false prophets showing up. God warned us of that. He tells us to beware. Well, today I want to go to a scripture. I want to go to some scriptures. I don't want to go to an expert. In my eyes, he's an expert. He knew a little something about false prophets. False teachers. As a matter of fact, he went to lay hands upon a man in Samaria, in the book of Acts. And the man was so famous that the people actually said that this man is the great power of God. He was baptized. And when Peter went to lay hands on him, he saw that and wanted to buy the power. He wanted not only to have hands laid upon himself, but he wanted to have that power so he could lay hands on other people. That was Simon Magus, Simon the sorcerer. Peter had to handle him.

So it didn't take long before Peter, over his 30 years of pastoring and working with God's people, he'd seen it all. Seen a lot. Wanted to tell us about it. Wanted to warn the people about it. Our teacher, Simon Peter, Cephas, gives in fact his last will and testament in 2 Peter. There's only three chapters in 2 Peter. I'd like you to read that, if you will, this afternoon, this evening, or even your Bible study tomorrow. It takes 10-12 minutes to read the three chapters. But you might read them and read them in different translations so that you can fully understand this man's last words.

It's important. Yes, over 30 years of service, and now as he's having this written, he's waiting to be executed. And so these are kind of his last will and testament. But he's inspired to tell this to the church. These are his last words as he, according to history, by many outside even the church, because it doesn't mention his death in the scriptures, but it's well noted all through history, historians, that he was not only killed, he was to be crucified. And he said he wasn't worthy to be crucified as the Lord, so they crucified him upside down. And there's very... I'll just say there's a lot of pictures, a lot of paintings, as that was a very famous time as he was supposedly killed in St. Peter's Square in Rome. And here he is in some of the pictures that we've put here being crucified. So he was willing to die for God's truth, but he was also, in his last words in the last few hours or weeks, wanted this written down, wanted some words written down, wanted some warning. What would be your last words? You see, Peter wasn't the strong silent type. He was the strong loud type. He was the one that would... he was gung-ho, even to the fault many times. But as you'll see that after his conversion, after Christ's resurrection, he became endued with power, power by the Holy Spirit. And he was fearless, fearless. He was the one that went to Cornelius's house. As Cornelius summoned him. Imagine that! Imagine a Roman centurion at that time summoned you to his house. And he went. He went. And there we have some of the first gentiles converted in the church. His words to us today from 2 Peter 2 is a warning message, a warning message for each and every one of us. Taken from decades of experience, perhaps he was concerned that the brethren of his day and for us today would not be strong enough to confront, to question, false teachers, preachers, and prophets. I want to go through his writings today. I am especially happy that United Church of God has a governance it does because that governance helps keep false teachers out. We do not have a one-man rule. I don't have one boss. I have quite a few bosses. And if someone finds I am teaching something, some heresy, or anything else, they have every right to and they should confront me. I've asked people to if I teach something that's not scriptural. It's Jeff's job, even as my assistant, to question me, to show me where I'm wrong, and if I won't listen to bring others, as Matthew 18 says. And if that doesn't work, Jeff knows, or any of you know, you can go to my regional pastor, Ken Martin. If that doesn't work, you're not satisfied. You can go to Mark Welch. You're not satisfied. You can go to Victor Cubick. They all have phone numbers. You can all call them. If you're not happy with Victor, you can go to the council. You can go to Lynn Martin and all the council members.

Because heresy was at the forefront when United was formed. We didn't want to have it. So now, if you want to change doctrine, you're going to need at least 250 to 300 elders all on the same page, deciding to change not one or two people or a dozen people. But it's your job, brethren, to study the scriptures, to know, to be led by God's Holy Spirit, so that you can help your minister if he needs help. His job is to help you, but it's also your job. It's your job to preserve, as I wrote about last night, preserve the truth and preserve the Church that God has given in this time, in this age. So I want to go to 2 Peter, 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. As Peter is now telling you, as he realized he's about to be put to death, and he said in 2 Peter 1, verse 11, So an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a wonderful words. He says, For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent or body, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you will always have a reminder of these things after my decease. What is he talking about? Then he goes to chapter 2, and you'll see he was warning about false prophets, about false teachers, who will come into the church, who will try to sidetrack you, who will try to mislead you.

How do you defend against that? We're going to look at it, but here is the truth. That is the truth. Why is it so important that you read this? Because it is the truth. It will ground you. It will be what backs you up. It will be where you get your center.

It will be where you get your strength from knowing God's Word. And if something doesn't sound right, you hear a sermon, you hear a message, you hear a teacher teaching something supposedly from the Word, doesn't sound right, or he's saying something, what's the problem? Go to him. I don't understand this. Why did you say this? I've had people do that to me, and I've done it to other ministers. If something's not right, I say, well, wait a minute, what did you mean by this? I didn't go, you're wrong! No, I just said, wait a minute, this doesn't line up with Scripture. Can you tell me where you're coming from? Show me. And most of the time, I've had them say, well, yeah, I didn't mean it sound that way. Well, it did, so they corrected it. I appreciate a ministry like that, and you should appreciate one who's willing to listen and make sure that they live and have their teachings straight from Scripture. So let's go! I want to make sure I get you out on time. We were about five minutes late, so I maybe have another five minutes and try to keep our services an hour and 30 minutes, being that's what the survey said you guys wanted. That's what we've been admonished from home office to keep it, and we're going to try to do that. As long as I'm here, Jeff's here, we're going to try to live by what they ask us and what you would like to have done. So let's go with let's go to chapter two, 2 Peter chapter two. If I would have titled this chapter, it would have been Liars and Egomaniacs. That's what I would have said. Liars and Egomaniacs, because that's what Peter was about to teach. So today, I want to give you 10 proofs from the Scriptures. 10 proofs from the Scriptures of a false teacher, preacher, or prophet. So let's go to the number one. Let's go start with number one. Number one, number one scripture on the number one point that I want to make today is false teachers have and will secretly infiltrate the church. False teachers have and will secretly infiltrate the church. Yes, it's happened before. It's happened recently. And guess what? It's going to happen again.

Peter warns that in 2 Peter 2 verse 1. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction.

Wolves in sheep's clothing.

We need to beware. Have you ever had the wool pulled over your eyes? By a false teacher, minister. It's interesting, the phrase there, wool pulled over your eyes, came from the early English, who their judges all had this wool put over there. They wear it on their heads as a covering, as they would judge something. And sometimes a slick lawyer or a slick person would, as they were sitting there making judgment, come up with such a good story that and they found out later that it wasn't true, that he felt like he had the wool, the time his head pulled over his eyes so he really couldn't see the truth. Brethren, it's time we know that we see the truth, we know the truth, and we live it, and if something's not right, guess what? The Holy Spirit's going to help tell us. Something's not going to sound right, not something's not going to feel right. We're going to know it. And Peter's trying to tell. We need to watch these. We need to watch these. Number two, false teachers will slander and misuse God's truth. Have you ever had that before? I did. I listened to a whole sermon and thought, wow, that's really, wow, that's a great sermon. And I'm listening to it, wow, that makes sense. That makes sense until I go to the book and start reading the scriptures, and they took half the scriptures out of context, and they left a bunch out. This is what false teachers do. Now, what's interesting here is, Peter is telling us what we need to be on the lookout for, of these proofs of false teachers. But not every false teacher will have all these. Some will have some of the ten. Others will have others of the ten. But you need to be aware of all these things as they use... Satan is using people to lead you away from God's truth. They will slander and misuse God's truth. You'll hear church speak. You'll hear church speak. But let's go to 2 Peter 2, verse 2. And it said, And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. This is what Peter's saying. You need to watch the words that you hear. You need to know the truth. And that's so important. And God wants us to not only follow Peter. Peter is our last words. He wants to make sure that you're not led down a path. Because now many of us have had different places where we haven't had services and people joining this and looking over this, and they're looking at various ways to be taught. Beware! Beware! Don't trust me! If I don't teach from the Bible, don't trust me! Don't trust my assistant, Jeff Lockhart! If he isn't teaching from Scripture, if he isn't teaching Scripture, I'm not teaching Scripture. We need to be fired. It's that plane. Because our job is to help people make it to the Kingdom, not make us who we want to be. Let's go to number three. False teachers are greedy liars with silver tongues. False teachers are greedy liars with silver tongues. How does a liar get to be a really good liar?

By lying? A lot! And people buy into it. So you need to be aware of these false teachers, because they don't mind lying. Let's go to verse three. I'll do this from the New Living Translation, because it puts it very well. Peter is warning us, in their greed, they will make up clever lies to hold, to get hold of your money. It's about the money too many times. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. Are you aware of where your money goes? Why do they want your money? Is somebody just after your money? Because that's not what it's about.

It's about helping you and your salvation. Yet, time after time, you see it in the world, and too many times you've seen it here, where people have just said things, and they have to have the nicest suit, and they show all this, and they really look successful, and they say, wow, and they cry, scripture, they're trying to do this and that. But that's not who they really are.

Greedy liars with silver tongues. Let's go to number four. Number four. Fourth proof. False teachers are led by the flesh. False teachers are led by the flesh. You're going to hear them talk about fleshly things. You're going to talk about worldly things. You're going to hear these things. Every one of them know, but you need to be aware of those who do. Let's see what Peter said about it. Peter said in verse 10, 2 Peter 2 and verse 10, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the last of uncleanliness and despise authority. That means they're always complaining about somebody up above them. They have all the answers. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. You've observed them. You've seen people this way. They have all the answers. Brethren, beware. Beware. We need to see in our ministers. We need to see in our leaders. It's amazing when we have deacons. Deacons are a position in the church. Yeah, we lay hands upon them. They are a position in the church. You know what they're a position for? To serve! To serve! They're not there to be, oh well, look at me, I'm a deacon. No, it's like, look at me, I'm a deacon. Where can I help you? What can I do for you? I was a deacon for 16 years. My old job, I viewed it as, how can I help people? And that was such good training for me as a minister. Be a deacon to say, hey, you know, these people, they need help. I need to be leading. I need to be out at the forefront of that. It's amazing because I remember George C. Marshall over the Marshall Plan and when he was a general. He came to Fort Benning after the war. And of course, everything was kind of worn down and he was over the whole area and he looked at the housing and because the war had been going on for so long, there wasn't money to fix anything up and it was just kind of run down. And so here he was over the entire base. Had his housing and there was all the other colonels and generals and everybody there and all them in. And so he started on the weekends, on his time off, or supposedly time off, he went and got some paint, went and got some stuff and started cleaning and painting his own house he was living in. Something that you never would have thought and never said a word to anybody about it. But next thing you know, here's some colonels. They go over and start doing it. Here's some lieutenant. Here's some captains and everything else. He led by example. He showed a humility. He was willing to go above and beyond. That's what leaders in the church do. We go above and beyond. What can we do? How can we be of service to you? Not like, well you need to go over here and you need to do this and you need to do that.

That's not the kind of leaders God called.

Christ even said that to the disciples. They had to straighten up and learn a different way even from them. Let's go to the fifth. Let's go to the fifth. Fifth point. False teachers are ignorant and unwilling to learn. Whoa, what do you mean? They're teachers. Why are they ignorant? Well, we're all ignorant about certain things.

Jeff knows more about computers than I'll ever even know. There's different things. I know a lot about building. I spent 35 years in building. I can tell you about building. I can tell you I study the scriptures. I can tell you that. But I'm not. I'm not a medical doctor. I can't tell you anything about that. We have nurses in our church. I turn people in. Well, they could help you more than I can. But I've known false teachers who had the answer to everything.

They knew everything. They even knew what color car you should buy. They even knew, well, what you should be wearing. Whether I remember one guy said, well, no man speaking should wear a pink shirt. Well, fire me for that because I've got a few of them. Okay, come on. What's that got to do with God's truth? The false teachers are ignorant and unwilling to listen.

Let's see what Peter has to say about in verse 12. He said, but these these false teachers, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, just like animals are, a cow is, or whatever, they live here to to for us to use them and they'll be destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand and will utterly perish in their own corruption. They speak evil of things they don't even know anything about. Brethren, be on the lookout. These are things that Peter is trying to warn us about.

We need to make sure that we're on the ball. We're studying scripture that we know. No. Number six. False teachers delight in deceiving others. Well, yeah, it's what they do, but to be deceived, you've also got to kind of have blinders on or not listening to what what teachers are saying or not know what the word of God says. False teachers delight. See, they delight in just like, oh, showing you this. And I've had teachers who wanted to use only intellectual terms so that makes them feel so much appear in biblical terms that most people just when there's a simple phrase to use.

Christ made it very simple. The gospel is simple. Salvation is simple. Doing it's the hard part. Learning about it's not. Doing it and living it's the hard part. Let's see what Peter had to say about number six. In second Peter 2 and verse 13, And we'll receive the wages of our righteousness as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deception while they feast with you. Means they're sitting there, they're telling you all this stuff, acting like they're a part of the church, acting like they believe this, but yet they've got their own.

They've got their own values, their own issues, their own things that they don't agree with or there's a problem. Oh, is the church perfect? Absolutely not. No. If you find the perfect church, they won't want you in it. Won't want me in it. The only one who could be in it is Christ, and that's not the church he started. So let's go to number seven. Let's go to number seven. False teachers live fleshly lives and pray on new believers.

Absolutely. They don't live up. They're not who they say they are. They put one one front out in church or around people and then another one there. They don't live really that life. And they pray on new believers because their story's gotten old. Many times they'll have, well, I think this doctrine and I think this and this and this and I want this and and he's gotten old.

And so actually people who study the Bible kind of turn them off and just go, I don't want to hear anymore. And so they're looking for someone as he was saying earlier with, as he was telling it with itching ears.

Oh, can I have some new truth? I'll tell you the truth I have here is enough to keep me busy for two lifetimes trying to do it and live it. Number seven.

Verse 14, having eyes full of adultery and cannot cease from sinning enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices and are accursed children. The worldly thoughts, they prey on people.

And they cannot cease from sin. Haven't we seen that in the news?

They have addictions and go far beyond just having an issue or a problem. We need to watch that. We need to observe that and do what we can not condemn but to help. Because we're all in this as a family together. Let's go to the next one. Number eight. Number eight. False teachers speak lies and know it all. And too many times it's all about the money. Show me the money. You see that all over the world. You see people with jet airplanes and all this kind of stuff they have to have and all these big fancy suits and cars and all this kind of stuff. Come on. Is that what it's about? It's false teachers. Speak lies. They don't mind. Let's go to what Peter says about it. Peter says in verse 15, as we heard just a couple weeks ago in a sermon on Balaam, they have forsaken the right way and gone astray. So here Peter is going all the way back to Balaam, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. He loved being able to act like he was righteous but also wanted his money, if you remember the story. He wanted to have his cake and he wanted one foot on each side of the fence. Guess what? We don't need a teacher like that. There's only one way, one truth, and we need to know it. Let's go to number nine. Number nine. I'm going to commit my time here. False teachers have a method to their madness. Yes, they plan this stuff. No, they don't just come off top of their head. They think about what they're doing. They think about a following. They think about how can I do this? How can I get money? How can I do all this stuff? And people believe me. Let's see what Peter says about it in verse 16. I'm talking about Balaam. But he was rebuked for his iniquity. A dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the what? Madness of the prophet. The madness of the prophet.

Because there is madness to this. Because many that I know down through the years, ministers, at one time they, I think they understood the truth. But then they've abandoned it for their own, for their own wants, their own needs, for their own good, which we're here to serve. We're here to serve people, and they forget that. Now let's go to number 10. Let's go to number 10 of the 10 proofs of a false teacher. False teachers are what? Full of themselves. Full of themselves. How can you tell that? Well, what about sometimes when, haven't many ministers of you known that you've talked to or whatever, and they really want to know about you? But they're busy talking about themselves. Talking about themselves. When the last time they asked about your family, whatever, I want to know. I want to know things about our brethren. I want to know because I need to be praying for them. My focus during the week has to be praying on for the brethren. You, brethren, that's that's what I have to do. So I spend my time on my knees. I have to pray about myself, and I have to pray about my family, but it's about the brethren. You know, I try to get to know everyone. I want to know your names. I want to know where you came from. I want to know this, because I need to be praying about that. I know we have a member, Janay, saying her husband's a doctor. Well, wow, he's a doctor. Well, that's all great, but he's a doctor on cruise ships. Well, they haven't been able to work for for almost a year now. And I worry about, pray about Sam, her husband, because he's been good to his wife, Janay. And though he doesn't believe like we believe, he accepts her belief and honors her for it. See, these are the things that, and that's not talking about me at all, because many ministers do this. Jeff does it. He wants a relationship with people. He just doesn't want to come in. Oh, well, minister, I'm giving a message, and okay, pay and pray. That's not what we're about. That's not what God's ministers need to be about. But false teachers are full of themselves. They love to talk about themselves. In going, turn, well, I did this, and you know, before I did this, and you know, I had this, and look at me. Eventually, verse 19 of this same chapter said, they speak great swelling words of emptiness. There's not a lot there. Not a lot there. The fate. Let's go to the scripture here. He said these, these false teachers are wells without water. What's wells without water? A hole in the ground. Not good for anything except falling into. These are wells without clouds carried by a tempest. Clouds carried by a storm. They just, they just pass on through. Right? Remember, the great, one of the great Indian chiefs was brought forward in the late 1800s, and they brought him forward because he could understand English, and this president of the United States was there, so they brought him up there to listen to him, give this, give this speech. And so he gave this big speech, and afterwards they asked the chief, well, what did you think of his speech? And he said, big clouds, no rain.

Well, that's what we need. There's got to be something back here. You got to be backing who you say you are. That's why I appreciate Jeff's message today, is we need to be showing kindness. I need to show that kindness. You know, if I don't, well, you know, what did Paul say? Follow me as I follow Christ. If I'm not following Christ, brother, report me and get me fired.

Because that's the way it should be with each and every minister. But then it says, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever? That saying has stuck with me for years. For whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever? What does that mean? I don't know. I mean, I've looked it up, and there's various things, and they want to take you from this corner to this corner in commentaries. I just know one thing. I was on a cruise ship 25 years ago. We got the cheapest cabin we could, is inside cabin. Okay, there's no light. And so when the lights went out and we went to bed, I got one to get up. Guess what? I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. It was so pitch black, dark. It's like I didn't even exist. Well, brethren, that's the reward, because they're reserved the blackness of darkness forever. It will be like you never, ever even existed.

That's their reward. That's what's going to happen. That's the penalty for deceiving and doing these things. Compare that, compare that future to what we just experienced at the Feast of Tabernacles, the coming kingdom of God. It is all about light. Light. And the light that is Christ, the light that is God, and the light that is of this world that's going to be there. Brethren, don't be fooled. Don't be fooled. Peter knew and wants us to know a fraud when we encounter them, a fraud in the church. It may not be your pastor. It may not be your deacon. It may just be somebody in the congregation that decides they want to have this little, oh, look how smart I am. I've seen that before also. Most of the time, the bigger splits are caused, a division or caused people stumble because of a deacon or an elder or minister or council member or whatever. That happens, but it can also be just someone in the church that comes across as a biblical scholar. I have this inside knowledge. Look at the fruits. Look at the fruits. So now I want to leave you with just a couple of things. On this day, I hope you have benefited from this. I benefited from it because I need to study to make sure I'm approved, that I'm doing the things I need to do as a good reminder for me. It's a good reminder for all of us what Peter was saying in those last words of his. But I want you to understand how you tackle, how you confront, how you live, how you're not deceived by false teachers, preachers, and prophets.

The Holy Spirit must be our compass. The Holy Spirit must be our compass. If you have a compass, I don't care anywhere on this world, you will not get lost. If you know how to read the compass, you know how to use a compass, you need to know how to use the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is telling you something's not right, that a man is saying, you need to pay attention to it.

It must. It must be our compass, our guide that guides us as we not only study this word, but also as we understand people, understand where they're coming from. Yes! Are there deceived people that don't know anybody? Yes! And it's our job to help them. But if you've got a false teacher trying to teach something and you feel it, use the Holy Spirit. The other tool we can use is God's word, is our lighthouse. You ever seen a lighthouse? We have one not far from here in Pompano on Hillsboro. And it's a beautiful lighthouse that's out there, and it shows a light, and so that way you won't crash into shore, but you'll also know where you're at. You see, this word is our lighthouse. The Holy Spirit is our compass. We use these things. These are the things we must use. And use them as a radar when something doesn't seem right. Brethren, the scriptures say you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. It'll set you free from deception. So know the truth, and the truth will set you free from deception and from false teachers. Have a wonderful rest of the Sabbath.