Chapter 24, we will read verses 1-35. We continue the series here in Matthew 24 now. Last week we considered verses 1-3, this week we consider verses 4 and 5. It's good to remember that Jesus had just been speaking to the Pharisees in the temple and spoke about the coming destruction of the temple. He referred to that. There would be destruction in 70 AD. And now after that instruction and the warnings he gives to the Pharisees in chapter 23, we now read in chapter 24, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. When he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. That if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and put forth leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. So far do we read scripture. The text is verses four and five. Verses four and five. And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. Last week we learned that in Matthew 24, Jesus is speaking in this chapter, both of the destruction of Jerusalem and of his second coming. The disciples asked two questions in Matthew 24, verse 3. First, they asked, when shall these things be? And these things, that was referring to the destruction of the temple that Jesus just spoke about in verses 1 and 2. They were asking, when will that happen? Second, the disciples asked, what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? what shall be the spectacular event that shows that you are coming again, and that shows it's the end of the world. Now, as we saw last week, post-millennialists interpret that phrase, end of the world, to mean end of the Jewish age. They say that the disciples were only asking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the temple in Matthew 24, verse 3. So they say all of Matthew 24 is only talking about things that happened before 70 AD. Everything in this chapter is all about things that happened a long time ago. However, that phrase, end of the world, in verse three, when the disciples say, what shall be the sign of the end of the world? That phrase, end of the world, refers to Christ's second coming and the final judgment that will occur then. We know that because the rest of scripture uses the phrase end of the world always in that way, to refer to the time of Christ's second coming and the final judgment. So, in summary, the disciples had two questions. When will that destruction of the temple happen that you spoke of? And second, they asked, what will be the sign of your second coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered their questions in the rest of Matthew 24. Verse four begins, and Jesus answered and said unto them. So Jesus then proceeded to speak about things that would occur before AD 70. Some of what he says applies to that. But also, he gives signs of his second coming and of the end of the world. The signs, which are spectacular events that occur in creation, in the church and history, those signs they will be difficult things to go through. Many of them will. Yet, at the same time, those signs are comforting for us to see. For they indicate that the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, is coming. And that's comforting. That's a wonderful thing. So we look at this chapter in light of that. And verses four and five, Jesus gives to us really the first sign of his coming. He says, he gives the sign there of coming deceivers. That's the first thing he lists, coming deceivers. Think about that, deceivers that come in his name are a sign that he is coming. And in giving that sign, Jesus also gives a warning to his disciples and to us to take heed that we be not deceived. It's an important warning. Yet there is, remember, great comfort here. Great comfort. He gives us a sign of his coming. In the midst of giving that sign, he not only gives a warning, but he also speaks of how he's even really in control of these deceivers that come. We'll see how the text shows that in the course of the sermon. Let's consider the text under the theme, the sign of deceivers coming in Christ's name. The sign of deceivers coming in Christ's name. First, coming deceivers. Second, Christ's warning. And third, Christ's care. the sign of deceivers coming in Christ's name, first coming deceivers. Jesus speaks about deceivers in Matthew 24, verses four and five, saying, take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. It's important that we understand then what a deceiver is. That word deceive in the text, it means to lead astray or to lead someone to err. So a deceiver is someone who leads someone else astray or leads them to err. A deceiver tells a lie. With that lie, he leads someone to believe the wrong thing and do the wrong thing. God speaks of deceivers in the Old Testament. In Micah 3, verse 5, God speaks about false prophets, this is a quote, Micah 3, verse 5, false prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth and cry peace. So in Micah's day, there were false prophets that would go around crying, peace, peace. And the idea was that God is not angry with what you are doing. It's all okay. Peace, peace. Even as the Jews were walking in sin, they were telling the people everything's fine. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we read more about deceivers. 1 Corinthians 12 deals with King Jeroboam. Kids, you remember what King Jeroboam did. He deceived the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, by telling them that they could worship God through golden calves. He was a deceiver. He was leading the people to believe a lie and do the wrong thing. That's what a deceiver is. Now, deceivers have many different motives, and they are not good ones. Some deceivers want power. They want to be popular among the people. They want to be popular among the peoples that they have influence and they thus have power. Paul says in Acts 20 verse 30, he says, of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them. Now, in Micah's day, that's what the false prophets were doing. That was their motivation, to have power, to have a following. That's why they would cry out, even as the people walked in sin, they would cry out, peace, peace, it's all fine. They didn't want to speak about the king's sins. They didn't want to speak about the people's sins. The people would get mad at them. So they just said, peace, peace, to gain a following, gain power. And megachurch pastors today often do the same thing. They say what the people want to hear so that many follow them and they have power. So some deceivers are motivated by power, some are motivated by money. 2 Peter 2 verse 3 says, through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. They want money. They don't care if what they say is right or wrong, but just say what the people want to hear so that those people support them and those people give them money. There are prosperity gospel teachers today that teach things, too, in which they're trying to get rich, really. They will say, for instance, give money to the church, which really means give money to them, God will bless you. God will give you great riches. And that's their idea of being blessed. God will give you great earthly riches then. So some deceivers are motivated by power, some by money, and some by pride. They want to be known as great thinkers. So there are some that try to teach something new. Even if that's wrong, they want to bring something new out, and then people will think they're smart. So they're motivated by pride. So bad motivations for deceivers. There are deceivers, those who lead people astray, and there are those who are deceived. To be deceived is to be drawn away from the truth. You believe the lie and you go forward doing the wrong thing. You have been deceived then. There are many examples of being deceived in Scripture. Go back to that example of Jeroboam in the Old Testament. At the time of Jeroboam, most of the Israelites in the northern kingdom were deceived by him. They thought, yes, we will stay right here. We won't have to go all the way south to Jerusalem. We'll worship God through golden calves. Later on in Judah, many were deceived by those false prophets that cried out, peace, peace, and they thought, yeah, God is pleased with this lifestyle, even this sinful lifestyle in which I'm going on. It's just fine. They were deceived. Now the one who deceives, the one who does the deceiving, he's guilty of great sin. That's horrible to deceive. But the one who is deceived is guilty also. Usually the one who is deceived is not well grounded in the truth. He doesn't know the truth well, like he ought to. And thus he's tossed about to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Also, those who are deceived are often deceived because of sinful lusts. Think, for instance, of this, that certain deceivers will come and they will say to the people, really allow them to live however they please. And sometimes people are attracted to that because of their sinful lusts. They think, I can do as I please here in this church, so I'm going to stay here. Or the deceiver promises earthly wealth and an easier life, and they're attracted to that. Lusts for money. Those who are deceived are deceived under the judgment of God. They had the scriptures, but the scriptures really weren't that important to them. They really didn't love the scriptures. So they were deceived. God brought judgment upon them in that way and let them be deceived. People fall for the lie. People fall for lies. It's been happening throughout history. It happened in the Old Testament, too. They fall for lies as those who have a sinful nature, as those who are being attacked by the devil. Each man does have a sinful nature within him, and our sinful nature desires to go along with the lie. And think of this, too. Satan, he knows what kind of deceiver to bring to a congregation. He attacks them that way. Maybe he knows a certain congregation, they want to go on in loose living. So he brings to them, he seeks to bring to them a teacher that allows it, says it's all okay. Satan attacks hard. People having a sinful nature, they fall, they are deceived. We too would be apart from the grace of God. Jesus teaches here that there will be deceivers that come in his name. So we know what deceivers are. Jesus teaches that there will be deceivers that come in his name. Verses four and five say, take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. Jesus is teaching there that both deceivers and those who are deceived, they will be found in the period of time leading up to his return. The text says that many deceivers will come in this time between his first coming and his second coming. Many deceivers will come. Not just a few, but many. And more and more, Jesus indicates here in the text, more and more deceivers will come as the time of his second coming approaches. That comes from verse 8. Verse 8 is important. It says, all these are the beginning of sorrows. All these are the beginning of sorrows. And that phrase, all these, refers to the signs that Jesus just spoke of in verses four through seven. Those signs including deceivers, like we read up here, but also earthquakes, famines, pestilences. And Jesus says, all these, these signs are the beginning of sorrows. Now, that phrase beginning of sorrows literally means birth pangs. All these signs are the, beginning of all these signs are birth pangs is how the text is literally. Birth pangs there is an important word because what happens with birth pangs is that birth pangs become more and more frequent as one gets closer to the time of delivering the child. Birth pangs become more and more intense as the time for childbirth approaches. So it is with Christ's coming and the signs. The things listed in verses 4-7 become more and more frequent, become more and more intense as one gets closer to the second coming, just like birth pangs get more and more intense as the mother gets closer to delivering the child. That's the idea of verse 8. So Jesus, by that phrase, is indicating that there will be more and more deceivers as the time of Christ's return approaches. And these deceivers will have a message that people want to hear as the time of Christ's return approaches. Again, some will have a message that allows for people to indulge in sin, and you see how that's attractive to people. Some will have a message that promises riches and prosperity, the good things of life. Jesus says in this passage that there will be deceivers as the time for His second coming approaches. And there have been. Since Jesus ascended up into heaven until now, and from now to the time of His second coming, there will be deceivers. And we've seen that. The disciples in Paul, think of how they battled with those Judaizers. We heard about them not too long ago in a sermon on one of the Lord's days, the Judaizers. They were people in the early church that taught that one needs to keep the Old Testament law to be righteous before God. One needs to be circumcised to be righteous before God. The disciples and Paul were already battling with deceivers. And then, the early church, they battled with Pelagius. The early church battle of Pelagius, a man who taught that one can do good things by his own free will. And during the Middle Ages, the leaders in the Roman Catholic Church, they began to teach works righteousness. And they began to teach that false doctrine that if you give a certain amount of money to the church, then your loved one, their soul will spring forth from purgatory up to heaven if you give enough. deceivers. The Reformers, they battled with Rome and with the Anabaptists, and today we still battle with deception, with deceivers all around us, as it was in the past. And as it was in the past, many are deceived by these deceivers. Think of how today there are churches filled with thousands of people to hear the prosperity gospel and to hear teachers like Joel Osteen. And you see on TV thousands of people there to hear a minister proclaiming Arminianism and the idea that Christ died for all and just accept Him to get saved. deception all around us. Jesus taught that there would be deceivers, and there are. And He said in the text that these deceivers would come in Christ's name. There would be deceivers that come in Christ's name. What does that mean? Verse 5, "...many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." Well, the come in Christ's name means that you come. claiming that you have Christ's authority to speak, and that you are bringing His Word. So the apostles in Christ's day, they actually did come in Christ's name, they preached in Christ's name, they preached having His authority to preach, and they brought the Word. Today, true ministers of the Gospel, they preach in Christ's name. They preach as those who have been given authority to do so, as those who've been called by Christ's church. And they preach in Christ's name as those who bring the word, the word of Christ. Now, Jesus says the deceivers, they will come in my name. And that means that these deceivers will come claiming claiming to have authority to preach. They say that they're called by Jesus to do so. And they will come saying that they bring Christ's word. And so they're coming in his name. and understand that they often look and even sound quite good. These deceivers, they don't look outwardly like people that are trying to hurt anyone. And often they're those who go up to someone with a friendly smile, they look kind, they maybe are wearing nice clothes, maybe trendy clothes, they quote scripture, they talk about Jesus Christ. They even talk about forgiveness and grace, but of course have a very different definition than what Scripture gives regarding those things. So the deceivers that Jesus speaks of, they will come in Christ's name, saying they have authority from Him to speak. And these deceivers will come saying that they even do what Christ does. They even do what Christ does. Verse 5, Jesus says, "...many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." That means that they claim to do what Christ does. Now, we have to know who the real Christ is and what he does before we understand what these deceivers do. The real Christ is shown really by the very name Christ itself. That name, Christ, reveals who he is, the real Christ. That name, Christ, means anointed one and refers to the truth that Christ is the anointed prophet, priest, and king of his people. Christ is the anointed prophet who reveals God to us. and our salvation. Christ is the anointed priest who brings us into fellowship with God by his one sacrifice at the cross and who intercedes for us. Christ is the one who is the eternal king of us as people, the one who rules us in his grace, who defends and preserves us, who gives to us wonderful gifts, He's Christ. He's the anointed one. Now, Jesus speaks of deceivers coming in His name who say, I am Christ. And He's saying that there will be those who claim that they can do what Christ does and what we just described. Jesus, Christ, He is the anointed prophet who reveals God to us. But some deceivers, especially cult leaders, they claim to have a secret knowledge of God. Secret knowledge of the things of God. They promise to reveal that to their followers. And there are some who claim to have a special anointing of the Spirit whereby they reveal new things to people, new things to their followers, new things from God. And those things contradict what the Scripture says. But they say, this is a revelation from God. They claim to be anointed prophets. They argue that people should follow them. Christ is the priest, the priest who brings his people into fellowship with God. Some deceivers, they act like they can do what Christ does. They act like they have a closer connection to God. Some of them act like they have a closer connection with God than others, and they can bring you close to Him, and they will help you have success with God in prayer. Christ is the King. He's the one who rules and defends his people and provides for them. And there are some deceivers who are very strong leaders and they claim that they will provide gifts to people. Now, mainly they speak of earthly gifts, but they will provide things like health. They will provide world peace. They will bring those things. There have been deceivers coming in Jesus Christ's name, just as Jesus said that there would be. These deceivers are spoken of already at the beginning of the New Testament. In Acts chapter 5, so very soon after Jesus ascended into heaven, in Acts chapter 5 we read about some of these deceivers who come in Christ's name claiming to do what He does and claiming people should listen to Him. Acts 5 verse 36, For before these days rose up Theodos, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to naught. Verse 37 speaks of another one of these men who really came claiming to be somebody, to be someone people should listen to and follow. We read, after this, man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him. He also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And a little bit later, Acts 8-9-10 speaks of a more familiar character, Simon the sorcerer. Simon the Sorcerer, this is what is said of him, and we certainly see he was a... One who was claiming to be a savior. Acts 8 verse 9 says, there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the great power of God. So these men in Acts already, these men we read of in Acts, they had men following them as if they were the Christ, as if they were great kings, people who others should listen to instead of Christ. In the early church, a man named Montanus in the 2nd century and then a man named Mani in the 3rd century, each of them taught at their particular time. He was the Paraclete or the Holy Spirit. So he was giving revelations from God that people must listen to. And more recently, there's Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, who claimed to receive special revelation from God and then wrote the Book of Mormon, published it. Today, there are those who claim to have a special gift of the Spirit too. and they claim that they are receiving some special revelation from God, people need to listen to them. They're really acting like they are the Christ. And in the future, the Antichrist, he will come claiming to be a great king, and really the king and the prophet, claiming people must listen to him. He will come claiming to be the king, for he will say that he will defend people in an earthly sense. He will defend people from earthly diseases. He will defend people from wars. He will bring peace. And according to God's will, God will allow the Antichrist to bring these things for a time. There will be this world peace, and many will follow Him. And He will not tell those people to look to God. He will tell the people to look to Him and worship Him. So many have followed false Christs in the past, many will follow false Christs in the future. And they will follow these false Christs as those who seek an earthly kingdom, those who seek earthly riches. These false Christs will not point the people to Jesus and the spiritual salvation that is found in Him alone. These false Christs, these false teachers will promise earthly wealth, earthly peace, The Antichrist at the end will especially bring those things, and many will be deceived. Many will follow him because those earthly things are of ultimate importance. That healing from that disease or that cancer, that's of ultimate importance. So when the Antichrist comes and brings those things, many will follow him and worship him. Christ gives a warning in this passage. He gives a sign. He gives a warning. Verse four, Jesus Christ says to the disciples, and he says to us, take heed that no man deceive you. Take heed means look out, take care that no man deceive you, that no man lead you astray, that no man lead you away from Jesus Christ and on the wrong path. Take heed. And notice, Jesus says, take heed that no man deceive you. He doesn't say take heed that no man deceive your neighbor, that no man deceive your wife, that no man deceive Your cousin says, take heed that no man deceive you. And Jesus says, take heed that no man deceive you. That word no man there means anyone. And the truth brought out there is that anyone could be used to deceive us. Anyone from a biblical scholar to a college chaplain to of your neighbor, take heed that no man deceive you. And keep taking heed is the idea of the text. Those words in the original language, in the Greek, they are in the present tense. And whenever there's a command in the present tense, that means that that command must continue to be kept. So the idea, what Jesus is saying here is take heed and keep taking heed that no man deceive you. Satan does not give up. So take heed and keep taking heed. That warning that is given here in the text, it was necessary for the disciples to hear. It was necessary for the disciples to hear as those who were not ready to meet these deceivers that are described. While Jesus taught on earth, the disciples hoped that he was going to become an earthly king. And they really thought he was going to bring that earthly kingdom. These disciples believed he was the Christ. that he was the anointed king, the promised king. And to them, that meant in part that he was going to be a great earthly king who was going to deliver the people of Judah from the Romans. And yes, they thought too, he's going to be a great spiritual king who delivers us from sin, but also a great earthly king who delivers us from the Romans and his kingdom is going to be wonderful. It's going to spread. And the knowledge of him is going to fill the earth. You see, they knew Old Testament prophecies like Habakkuk 2, verse 14. Habakkuk 2, verse 14 says, They thought that that prophecy and prophecies like it meant that Jesus Christ was going to win over the hearts of the Jews, but even beyond that, going to win over the hearts of the people of the whole world and everyone was going to know who he was and he was going to have this great earthly kingdom. People were going to know him, they were going to love him, and anyone that didn't would be destroyed. So with that line of thinking, thinking Jesus was going to bring an earthly kingdom, the disciples were not even thinking of facing any deceivers. They were not even thinking about battling for the truth and the battle that would come. And so it was very necessary for Jesus to warn them about coming deceivers. There were deceivers coming, and they were to take heed that they be not deceived. With that warning, what Jesus meant was that they were to be on the lookout for deceivers. And Jesus meant that they were to listen to Him closely for the truth, so that they might see the truth over against the lie. And with that command, take heed that no man deceive you, Jesus was telling them, be on the lookout for deceivers and be those who listen to the word so you see the truth. But also this, pray. Pray for strength, that you see the truth and that you hold fast to it. Pray for strength that you continue to trust in Jesus Christ alone. Trust in me for salvation. Take heed that no man deceive you. And that warning was necessary for the disciples to hear. That warning is also necessary for us, the church today, to hear as well. It's necessary for us. There's a popular teaching today in the church world which says that a golden age for Christianity is coming. We spoke of that last week in the introductory sermon to this chapter. We spoke about post-millennialism. Post-millennialists teach that before Christ comes again, there is going to be a golden age for Christianity, where there is a period of time where there's unprecedented growth, unprecedented peace and prosperity for the church on this earth. There will not be increased deception and attacks by the devil, but deception will cease, or at least there will be a great decrease in that deception. And the world will be Christianized. Now that view, that post-millennial view, that's really not that far away from even from us. because there are Christian colleges today, even Reformed Christian colleges, that are heavily leaning towards that viewpoint, teaching that the world will be Christianized. Now, what do they do with Matthew 24? Well, what they do with Matthew 24, which talks about these things that are going to happen in the future, these difficult things for the church, they say, all that happened before A.D. 70. Jesus is only talking about things that happened before the destruction of the temple. It's all past. So, they say that the presence of these deceivers that Jesus speaks of, that's all in the past. That all happened before A.D. 70. Those who follow the post-millennial teaching then, they do not prepare. to meet many deceivers. They really won't be ready to meet those deceivers. They're not on the lookout for them. Why would they be? So we need to see the truth. In this verse, Jesus is answering questions about what will happen before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, but he's also speaking about signs of his second coming. And Jesus says here in the text that deceivers will come. deceivers will come in the period of time before His second coming. So He says to us tonight, and this is important, He says, take heed that no man deceive you. You do not think that you are somehow above being deceived. You do not think that you know so much that somehow you will not be deceived. We each have a sinful nature. So naturally, we want to go along with the lie. Naturally, we want to abandon Christ and His ways. We cannot stand on our own. We are not above being deceived on our own. So take heed that no man deceive you. Be on the lookout for lies. Study and meditate upon the truth. Be here regularly to hear that truth over against the lie and pray. Pray for strength. to hold fast to the truth. Pray for strength to see the lie, to reject it, and keep doing that. Jesus says, take heed that no man deceive you. And this warning, this warning is to be issued by the church regularly. Regularly. This calling is to be issued forth by Christ's mouthpiece, the preacher, regularly in the church. He is regularly to say, take heed that no man deceive you. And not only that, not just give that warning and give that command, but the preacher is to explain lies and set forth the truth over against the lie so that the people might take heed that no man deceives them. Think about it. If we never hear the lie, never hear about the lie, then it will be hard to guard against that lie. We need to hear preaching that sets forth the truth over against the lie. Antithetical preaching. And the preacher, when he does this, he must never do it proudly. We saw that this morning too. Must never point out errors or lies proudly as if he is something or the church is somehow, this church is better than the others of themselves. Absolutely not. The preacher must bring forth the truth over against those lies humbly. humbly seeking God's glory, the God who is truth, and seeking the good of the church, the good of Christ's blood-bought sheep, seeking that they might be protected. That's not easy to do. It's not easy to set forth the truth over against the lie. It's not easy because when a minister speaks about the truth and also sets forth the lie and shows why it's the lie, There are times where he has to bring out something that his own family members or his own relation holds to. Or he has to speak about lies that family members of people in the pew hold to. So it's not easy. Some might even hear about what was preached and they might be angry that their viewpoint was called a lie. That is some outside of this church. The ministers and the elders then always have that temptation to keep silent about lies and about errors, but they must not be. They may not be. Jesus says, many shall come in my name. Many deceivers shall come and many will be deceived. It's a sobering truth. Many will be deceived. So the people must be warned against errors. People must be warned. so that they are not deceived. In this passage, Jesus Christ gives a warning and he also shows his marvelous care then for his church. First, in giving that warning about deceivers, Jesus shows his marvelous care for his church. Christ, understand, works in his people. Works in his people through commands and through warnings. He works His people through commands and through warnings to obey and to follow the truth. Canons of Dort, Heads 3 and 4, Article 17 states that grace is conferred by means of admonitions. Grace is conferred by means of warnings. God uses warnings for the good of His people to bring them to follow the truth. And that fits with Scripture. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says that God's Word is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Christ graciously works through His Word, through the commands, through the warnings given in His Word, to bring His people to follow the truth. And so when Christ gives a warning here, He is showing His gracious care for us, His church. He says, take heed that no man deceive you. He used that warning in the past to bring his disciples to take heed that no man deceived them. To be those who were on guard against error, to be those who listened closely to the teachings of Jesus Christ, the truth, and those who prayed, prayed for strength to fight against error. He uses that same warning tonight. He uses that same warning to strengthen us believers as well. To take heed that no man deceive us. To be those also who are on the lookout for error. To be those who are studying and meditating upon the truth. And those who are praying for strength to do right. God is very gracious then. Think of that grace. We are weak sinners. We are those who have shown such hatred for God so often in our lives with our actions. And we deserve to be Let go. We deserve to be thrown really to the wolves. Those deceivers. And to be destroyed. To be given over to those false teachings. Taken away from the truth. So we deserve. But Christ uses this warning to strengthen us to be those who take heed that no man deceive us. What a marvelous grace. And Christ does that. He works powerfully through His Word tonight in our hearts. He does that on the basis of what He did at the cross. If we were guilty in God's sight, Christ would have no right to work in us. To work in us to take heed that no man deceive us. But Jesus Christ went to the cross and He paid for all of our sins. On that basis, he now works in us. He now works in us through the word to take heed, that no man deceive us. Praise be to God for his great grace and for what Jesus has done and is doing. Also this, Jesus shows his care for us here, for what he says in this text serves to our comfort. First, what he says serves to our comfort because he's giving us a sign of his coming. He says that deceivers will come in his name and that there will even be an increase in the frequency of seeing these deceivers as we get near the end. So, in a certain sense, in a real sense, it is very sad to hear about deceivers in the past. It's very sad to hear about deceivers now and even to think upon the Antichrist. That's sad because that's sin. Yet at the same time, we are comforted because it shows so clearly that Jesus Christ is coming. The presence of Mormonism, of Pentecostalism, of Arminianism, that shows that Jesus Christ is coming. And when Jesus comes, we will be taken to the new heavens and new earth where we will live with Him in perfection forever. We will no longer have to battle against false teaching and deceivers. No more of that. Instead, only perfect life with God and His people forever. Perfect peace. Remember that we have that life in heaven because Jesus took all the horrible sins of us believers away at the cross. So thanks be to Him for that. So Christ shows his care here in giving us this sign. We see false teachers and we're comforted in a sense because we see that Christ is coming. Second in this passage, Jesus comforts us by indicating that he's in control of these deceivers. Think really about the words of the text. Jesus says, many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. So the deceivers that have come and that will come, that's not something that will surprise Christ and something that will surprise God. Jesus says, many shall come in my... saying I'm Christ. Many deceivers shall come. And it's not just that He knows they will come, but Jesus says the Ascended Lord is in control of all of it. In control of all of it. Even Job 12 verse 16 says that the deceivers are His. He controls everything about this. That's wonderfully comforting for us believers. He will not let them destroy us as those who died for us. He will not. He shed His precious blood for us. And also this, He will use them for His sovereign and good purposes. Specifically, He will use them for the good of His church. Christ uses the deceivers. to stir up his church to develop the truth. You can see how that happens. The deceiver brings something wrong. And the church must defend the truth. And in the process of defending the truth, God is working and He's bringing the church to develop that truth. And see more and more clearly who He is and how great He is to us. So Christ uses the deceivers to bring the church to develop the truth. And Christ uses the deceivers to chastise the church too at times. To bring them to see maybe their pride. To bring them to be more and more faithful to Him. When you see deceivers, then remember Christ's words here and be comforted. Shows He's coming. And remember, He's in control. He is. He's using them even for the good of the church. So, what a God we have. He's in control. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father which art in heaven, we come humbly before Thee, and we pray that Thou wilt strengthen us to take heed, that no man deceive us. May we hold fast to the truth, and we pray that also the word may serve to our comfort tonight, that we may see that thou indeed art coming in Jesus Christ to bring us to be with thee forever, the place of perfection, that thou art even in control of these deceivers and making everything work for the good of the church, thy true church. Lord, we praise thee. We ask, we pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.