As last week, I want to pursue just the Scriptures concerning the last days and the great apostasy and heretical teachings that will be part of the last day. For the world will be filled with heretical teachings, and the plight of the Church shall be very desperate at times, The plight of mankind spiritually in the last days will be dreadful, for the day of false teachers is truly upon us. All kinds of false teaching have become part of the present day as never before it seems. Now, I have been talking to you from 2 Peter, from Timothy, from the gospel on false teachers. Jesus mentions them in the last days. Of course, Paul mentions them, Peter mentions them, Jude mentions them. So, I'll just read a portion of Peter, then possibly go to Timothy, then a few other scriptures on the false teachers of the last days. We must be very careful because Jesus warns that if it were possible, even the elect will be duped. Now this is a great warning to us. In other words, although they may not be completely deceived by this thing, so that they would in any sense forsake that saving knowledge of Christ, they will be so duped that there will be a coldness develop in their hearts that will be very dreadful. We're seeing it all around us. Some folks who were away on vacation said to me, well, we understand what you're talking about. Just were away on vacation, went to a church where we used to go, where a solid, firm gospel message was preached. And honestly, Pastor, there was absolutely nothing, and it seemed as though there had been such a departure from the things of Christ that you could hardly discern the power of the Spirit of God at all in the message. Now, beloved, it's my last Sunday before my vacation. You know, someday I'm going to get to the judgment seat of Christ. I know that. I'm saved. I'm bound for heaven. No one in the world can ever change it, because God did it. You didn't. I didn't. I believed, and I've been redeemed. One day I shall face the judgment seat of Christ. As I understand the scriptures in Hebrew 13, it says, pastors, they are those which must give account to your souls unto God. So I pray that God will so give me messages that will stir your hearts. These are the last days. I am looking and Christ is looking for separated Christians. who really love him with all their hearts and are looking to the day they'll see him face to face. That's what they're looking for. In a day when there's so little of this, when there is an inclination to compromise our stand and to become indulgent to the things of the world, so that we almost say, without saying it by word, that things have changed, that we must be relevant to the day we're living in. relevant in such a way that we engage in things we never engaged in before, and we let down the bars in every way as though it makes no difference. Now, I want to tell you that the liberty that Christ gives is not libertinism. The liberty that Christ gives to the human heart when he redeems him is that his heart is perfectly free from the burden of sin. He senses the freedom, and he knows it, and he could have been the most debased, degenerate sinner that ever lived. But Christ's blood is sufficient for all sin. Never look at anybody as hopeless. Sometimes you've been praying for people in your family, and you give up. Don't give up. All I got to do is look at the kind of people who have been saved in Scripture, to know that Christ can save anybody. No matter how bad it may look, no matter how sad the situation may look, may I say that the blood of Christ and the power of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit is still the same, not one iota of difference, and has the power to save. Now, Peter warns us of false teachers coming in unawares. Paul warns us. Jude warns us. Jesus warns us. In those last days, I'll read Peter, 2 Peter, the second chapter, first three verses. Then I want to go to some other scriptures that are very important to us. But there were, Peter, remember, is a Jew, all the apostles are Jews, and well acquainted with Judaism. They came out of Judaism to Christ. Peter so much so that he thought that salvation was only for the Jews until, as Paul says, I refuted him to the face and showed him that he was causing the Gentiles to be brought under a bondage like the Jews were. And that what God was doing now was freeing both the Jews from all of the rites and rituals, so that circumcision had nothing to do with salvation, and to the Gentiles it came in that it was to be simply by faith they were to be redeemed, and Christian baptism would not save them, and circumcision would not save them, only faith in Christ the Messiah would save. And so Peter here says there were false prophets in those days among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies. And boy, I tell you, when I see that word damnable heresies, you know, it means exactly that. I feel sorry for people who get involved with damnable heresies, Jehovah's Witnesses. What a tragedy, 100,000 people up in Yankee Stadium on the road to hell. I feel so burdened. Christ is not their Savior. Christ is not the Son of God to the Jehovah's Witness. To the Jehovah's Witness, He's a perfect creation. Created by God, but not God. He's not a Redeemer. His blood doesn't cleanse from sin. I feel sorry for a hundred thousand people who go up to Yankee Stadium and go through baptism and all the rest who know not Christ as personal Savior. Either God's word is right or someone else. That's why I said before, we cannot accept the philosophies of men's minds. I challenge any collegian, I care not whether you have a doctorate, you must admit that you are the product of the minds who developed you. The product of a professor. so that you accept merely his mind and it's implanted in you and you become part of him. Well, that's not satisfactory for heaven. It's not satisfactory for eternity. There has to be the revelation of God himself to man through Jesus Christ. God, it says, hath declared Jesus Christ to be his son by the resurrection from the dead. He's declared Him to be His own virgin-born Son, the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, and the Divine One coming forth who should be the Redeemer of mankind. Jehovah's Witness can't say with me, that I can read in Colossians 3, without Jesus Christ was nothing made that was made, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth, all things were made by him and for him, and by him all things exist and consist. Now, this is no little perfect creation. This is God manifest in the flesh, as Timothy says. And so false Teachers come and gather unto them great followings. If I were to go down through the list of those who have deceived and been deceived, it would shock us. But they'll come among you. Be careful, he said. You be careful of false teaching. Don't go off the deep end on any single doctrine of Scripture. been an inclination in this day to grab onto one thing as though it's everything. The whole counsel of God and the whole word of God is the great word to our hearts. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and we're not to hang on to any one tenet as some of the different sectarian groups do, and I could point it out one after another, that they have falsely grasped one doctrine. And I'm not saying they're not saved. Many of these groups know Christ as personal Savior. I rejoice in that. But let us take the whole Word of God, the whole counsel of God for ourselves. Be careful, he says, false teachers shall come in among you. who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, and this is the tragedy, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." Why the Word of God and the Bible and preachers and priests and the Pope and everybody is a subject for jest today. There was a day you wouldn't dare do those things on television or radio. And yet this has become a tremendous thing. The things that go on, in other words, in the church, the supposed church, are glaring in the headlines of newspapers to the point where those who had no use for the church before have less use than they ever had before because now they see even preachers, supposed to be preachers of the Word of God, engaging in things that are an abomination to the Lord. As I've said, dancing on the platform out here on Long Island in Leotards, a minister does to show how this word, one of these psalms or something, he danced before the people. He didn't have to use words, just dance in front of the people. And the headlines glare with it. The church down in Greenwich Village where They have a great time and tore out all the pews and have their beer and all the rest, and they're making Christ relevant by tearing out the pews and having all of this going on. Listen, we're living in a wicked, wicked day, and Christ warns us, and Peter warns us here, we have to be careful. He says, they're going to come in among you. Be careful of this type person. They come in privily, unawares. Be very careful. Watch people who come in who do not have the doctrine of Christ. Be careful. Don't take them quickly into your fellowship. Watch yourselves. As we read in Ephesians 6, stand fast in that faith which you have received from Jesus Christ. Be girded about with the very armor of God. Our loins gird about with what? Truth! Do you have the truth? Do you? Do you have the truth of God? Have you been redeemed in the blood of Christ? Do you really know that? You're sitting here this morning. Are you really redeemed? Has the blood washed you from your sins? And do you know it? There's not one bit of doubt in your hearts. You're redeemed. You're on the road to heaven. Nobody can change you. You have a destiny. You're a man or a woman of destiny or a young person of destiny, and Christ has given you that destiny. This is the truth. Lorraine's good about with truth. He warns, be careful. Third verse, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation, notice this, he makes no mincing of words, slumbereth not. People sometimes get upset when I talk about hell, and sin, and judgment, and damnation, and being set apart from God for all eternity. But beloved, if I don't preach what God says, I don't have a thing to say. Then you will have to accept the philosophies of men who know nothing. There's not a man in this universe who knows a thing about death and after death. I have to go to the one who arose from the grave, declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, the one who made his last will and testament. And that last will and testament, he is not only the one who wrote the will, the testator, but, beloved, he is also the one who is giving out his estate. Through his death, it became effective. Through his life, he makes sure that no one can change his will. The New Testament of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, notice it says, with feigned words, they will make merchandise of you. The word feigned, incidentally, the scripture is plastos. It means fake, artificial. I'm reading it fabricate, fictitious, false. It is the word which is used for plastic, imitation leather. So they're fake, with faint words, lying words, fabricate, and with that they'll make merchandise of you. Notice that. Using all kinds of false things, They'll become great money makers. Now, I'm not just talking. They'll make merchandise of you. They'll use you. That's what God is saying. Be careful of these type people. They start a ministry that gets a great following. If you saw the magazines I get on my desk, it would shock you. Men who've taken hold and started a brand new sectarian group. I have a magazine which I get once a month. And the man has a following of thousands. He has a temple where 7,000 and 8,000 gather every Sunday to listen to this man tell them how he has received a special revelation from God. And while others may not know the day of the Lord's coming, God has revealed it to him. And then he begins to pinpoint the times and the days. And of course, in the magazine, he leaves it so he doesn't tell you the exact day because you'll have to write the magazine. to find out he has the formula all set. And although the Word of God says no man knoweth the day or the hour when the Lord will come back, this man has it all set up. They'll make merchandise of you. false teachers, feigned words, fake, false, fabricate, imitation, antichrists. Oh, they seem to have a nice way about them personality-wise. They've got it. They have charisma. You know how you hear that today, don't you? You have to have charisma This is what they say. Otherwise, if you don't have charisma, you notice that the word has been all over the newspapers. So-and-so has charisma. So-and-so doesn't. Nixon doesn't have charisma. Did you know that? That's what the papers say. He doesn't have charisma. He needs charisma if he's going to be a great president. For beloved, these men who get in these pulpits have charisma, you know. They attract not unto the Lord Jesus, but unto themselves. And they gather a great following, and they make merchandise of you. They pull in the money. Why, this one man that I know built a six million dollar temple. I was in it. they took me through, and they didn't know who I was, and took me through, had me look at all the different parts, this beautiful building, oh so cleverly done. And as I looked at it, and he looked at me and said, and it cost us six million dollars and we have no mortgage. I said, do you have Christ? Do you have Christ? Six million dollars, no mortgage. Beautiful building. He says, we have 8,000 people here every single Sunday. Come from miles around, he says, miles around. And I noticed the form of the auditorium. You know, it was a vast place, naturally, 8,000 people. It's seated. And I looked at it and I said, you've really made this auditorium quite beautiful. I said, it's graded up and everything. And he said, well, we did that in case someday we might fail, we could send it to the city. sell it to the city as a municipal hall. Clever. So I looked outside and there's a big beautiful supermarket, tremendous. I said, that's quite close. He says, yes that's ours too. And I saw these two palatial residences, beautiful. I said, oh what lovely homes. He said, yes that's a They gave me the name of the minister and his mother. We thought we'd give Mother Selinsa one of them too. Beloved, they'll make merchandise of you, false fabricate, all kinds of things attracting to their own personality. That's about it. Feigned words. Now may I just quote just a few things here which are very important. Let me quote to you 1 John 4. one to three, because a responsibility is placed upon you. You know, there's something about things like that that sweep people up, isn't it? You know, when people come into membership here, I always have one question that I ask. My deacons do most of the questioning, see? But I have one question I ask when people come into membership and it's right near the end. And I look at the person, and everybody that's come in knows that I pretty much say this, I say, tell me, why do you want to join this church? Well, I'm so thankful because, you know, there's always that little tremor in me that they might say, it's so beautiful here and you're air conditioned. Of course, what my heart wants to hear is, because, pastor, from that pulpit the Word of God is preached, and we've grown to love Christ as Savior. And I thank God that as deacons and pastors, we have yet to have anybody come in and say, the church is so pretty or it's so nice. We have to admit that there's glamour, you know, to a place with 8,000 people. There is a psychology that develops, you know, with great crowds. And I want to say it's thrilling to see so many of you here this morning. It's a joy to my heart. But God places a great responsibility upon the Christian. First John 4, notice what he says. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Just because a man says something, you don't believe it, do you? I hope you collegians don't do that. What a mess you'll be. The seat of philosophy in every university is occupied by a man who spews his own doctrine. Everybody knows that. The philosopher in the University of Illinois doesn't at all agree with the seat of philosophy in many other universities. They have their own doctrine. Or they may try to debunk everybody else because somehow they want to be exalted above other philosophers. We're to try every spirit. You're redeemed. You have something which no one else in the world has, if I can say this. You have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you if you're redeemed this morning. If you've been redeemed in the blood of Christ, you are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and a very serious and terrible responsibility falls upon you as an individual. That is that you should be able to test the spirits. to know if they're a god. That's what the Scripture says. Why do people go off the deep end and get into other kinds of groups where there's all kinds of false sectarian teaching? Now I am not saying, when I say that, that this Baptist church, or the Baptist church per se, is the only one that has doctrine. I am a man who's so far from that, that it's as far as the east is from the west. I don't believe that all Baptists will get to heaven. I don't believe that in any way. I believe that the only possibility of getting to heaven is through faith in the person of Jesus Christ and that alone, as Savior and Lord, the one who died, arose, and is coming again. That's the only possibility. But, beloved, our hearts have to be so careful If you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, and this is your witness to me, when you have come here, when you've been baptized in this baptismal tank, when you have raised your hand sometimes at a service I've had, or when at the door you've come to me and you've said to me, I came to Christ this morning as my Savior, what you're saying is this, I have now received the Holy Spirit and my body has become the temple of the living God. Now I want to say this, this doesn't sound like some salvation messages I hear that are all hoopla and joy and come to Jesus and everything will be rosy and happy. I want to tell you it's the most serious step anyone ever takes in life. If your body becomes the temple of the living goddess, there's nothing more serious that I know of. God says, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, who ye are and whom ye serve? You have been redeemed with a price, with the precious blood of Jesus Christ." And so he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we're conscious of it. We know we're indwelt by the Spirit of God. And then John says, now you're to test the spirits. Man, I test every one of them. No one ever fools me. Why? Because the Holy Spirit dwells in my breast. Oh, I've had them come into my study with all kinds of doctrines they want to spew out, you know. I've had some of the new psychedelic Christians in my study, incidentally. If I let them talk, I'd never say anything. They can talk for hours. under one little cube of sugar with a little drop on it, he can talk away and talk away about faith and everything else. But beloved, let me say this. If you have received Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and your life is filled with joy and contentment. And if you haven't learned contentment, you haven't learned a thing. I have learned, what does Paul say? That in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. So the Christian learns contentment and then becomes a discerner of spirits. Here is a man comes with a damnable heresy, a false doctrine. Sometimes I hear people say to me, well, so-and-so went to the Baptist church over and so-and-so, and I don't know, but now they're Jehovah's Witness. I say, well, don't you worry about it one little bit. They may have been Baptists, they were never Christian, because no born-again Christian embraces Jehovah's Witness. No born-again Christian ever embraces Christian signs. If Mary Baker Reddy says that the blood of Jesus Christ is of no more value on the cross of Calvary than when it ran in His veins, then you embrace it to your damnation and you are never Christian. When someone comes to you, do you get at all upset by this? Someone comes to you and says, but so-and-so was a Christian, and now... Don't you kid yourself, they were never Christians. Born-again Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Born-again Christians can discern the spirits, and can discern as God wants them to. Notice that in that portion of John. Man, I have about two hours more and I just, you know, it's hard for me to stop. Listen. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. What does it say? Every spirit that confesses Jesus Savior, Christ, the Anointed One of God, has come in the flesh, is of God, because they acknowledge that He is God, manifest in the flesh. And everyone that denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. And you have to know what that name means. Remember, it says, God hath given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth. For there is no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Test the spirits and see whether they be of God. Ask Jehovah's Witness right off. He comes to you, turn to the Scriptures. Jesus said, I and my Father are one. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And they'll turn you quick over to the 20th century edition of the Bible, which is their own edition, and debunk it all. they'll try to turn you away. And if you keep hammering at them that Jesus is a divine Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit, of Mary, they finally anger, go out, shut the door, and that's it. They don't want to hear anymore. How do I know it's happened? Can you discern the Spirit's beloved? Are you redeemed this morning or as we come to this table? May I say this, I'd like to say, you know, that man's exploration of the moon is going to bring a revival. I'm sorry. It isn't going to work that way. I get, and I don't want to go on, but I get a little upset by the things that I hear. For instance, I hear President Nixon get up and say, the greatest event since the creation of the world is the trip to the moon. Oh boy, what a mess we're in. The greatest event since the creation of the world is the birth and the death and the resurrection of Jesus, because this is God manifest in the flesh. The Creator comes and pays the penalty for man's sin, and it's completely ignored. The greatest event In the same speech, he says, man has now become part of the heavens. Well, I want to tell you something. The only place you'll ever get to heaven, the only way is through Jesus Christ. You'll never be part of that heaven of heavens that God has for you. Remember what the Scripture says, we are seated together already where? In heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see? How tremendous this is! And Wernher von Braun, whom I Love very much, when I read some of his statements, made a statement which rather upset me because I just had read that he had made a great statement about God and believing there is a God, but he said this, man has now assured himself of immortality. For when earth can no longer sustain him, he can now journey to the other planets. Well, now there's a statement that really shakes me up. If I read the Scriptures are right, no planet will escape the judgment of God. The sun will be darkened. All the planets are shot. And the moon will lose its light. And the moon, he says, will be turned to blood. And I want to tell you, since man's gotten up there, there'll be blood on the moon. Because the minute man stepped on it, he brought his defilement and his sin to another sphere of God's heavens. And I'd love to say that being on the moon is going to be the most beneficial thing man has ever found out, man has ever discovered. But I want to say that I would venture that already on the planning boards of the United States and Russia and any other country who will have the capacity to get to the moon is to establish in some manner or fashion a base up there that would place under their control mankind. You don't believe me? Then you haven't been reading much lately. in your good magazines and in the finest papers that tell you that's exactly what's happening. You don't think we're going blindly to the moon, do you? You don't think the United States went up there to get 20 pounds of dirt, do you? Or a few rocks to look at? Is that what you really think we went up for? Great, we carry the rocks, they're more valuable than anything. You know, I couldn't, you know, they said, how valuable is it? We can't declare the value, and they got them inside, they found some black on the top, they're all discouraged. Well, I don't know what we expected to find on the moon, but oh beloved, when you have Christ in your heart, You're going to take a journey someday that'll be far beyond the moon and the stars and the heavens around us unto the heaven of heavens that Paul spoke of when he said, I went into the third heaven and I don't want to talk about what I saw because if I tell you what I saw, you'd want to go too. Well, that's where we're going. That's where we're going. I hope you're on the journey with me. I might get there before vacation is over. You know, it could happen. It could happen. And you might too, the Lord might come. We all might go. Are you ready? Listen, am I speaking to your heart this morning? Are you ready? Do you have Christ in your heart? Let us pray. Now, Father, we do thank thee for thy, oh, so wondrous word. Bless it to our hearts, and Lord, it may be that someone here this morning is outside of Christ, We're coming to the Lord's table. Father, as we come, we pray that everyone will be able to come because they have truly accepted Christ in their hearts. This is a heart decision, Lord. I'm not going to ask for a hand. I'm going to ask for hearts this morning to say yes to Christ. For we remember the scripture says, it is with the heart that man believeth, and then with the mouth confession is made to salvation. Now, Lord, we pray. that if anyone here this morning came without a real solid saving faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, that they'll do it now, come to the table, and be refreshed in the fellowship of Christians around them to know that they're part of the great fellowship of God's family. For the Lord's table speaks to us of his death until He comes again for that family to take us to Himself. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.