 Acts chapter 26, so we're going to get through the whole chapter tonight. Paul, of course, giving his testimony and preaching the gospel to this king. So let's go ahead and get started so we can get through this chapter. But some interesting things that come up here that we're going to study through tonight. So let's start in verse number one. Of course, Paul is in Caesarea now. So he's in Caesarea. Felix was the first governor that kind of had him in bonds. And then Felix retired or moved on or whatever. And now we have Festus there. And then we have this king, King Agrippa, who's coming to visit Festus. And that's when Paul has an opportunity to speak to King Agrippa. And that is the context of Acts chapter 26. So look at verse number one. The Bible says, then Agrippa said unto Paul, thou art permitted to speak for thyself. So basically Festus fills in King Agrippa on what this big melee has happened between the Jews trying to get him to come to Jerusalem. And Agrippa just says, I want to hear from the guy myself. And he just says, Paul, tell me what's going on. Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before the touching all the things where I am accused of the Jews. Especially because I know thee to be an expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. That's an interesting point right there that I'm going to apply later. Therefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. So he basically says to, he says, my manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews. So what Paul is saying is starting off, he's saying to King Agrippa. He apparently knows that King Agrippa is a very educated man, not only educated man, but educated man according to the Jewish religion. So he knows that King Agrippa knows the Bible or knows what the Jews pretend to believe, all right? So that's where he's going to kind of start out to kind of build himself some credibility right away. He says in verse five, he says, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. So he's saying, I know that you know the Jews religion. He said, the Jews all know, they all have known me for a very long time. You say, why? Because he says, I used to be of the most strict part of their religion. He said, I was a Pharisee. So Paul is telling, he's kind of saying to Agrippa, he's kind of saying, look, I know you know the Jews religion, but I was like chief in that religion. And all these Jews that are accusing me know this. So he's kind of relating to the king that way. In verse six he says, and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Turn to Genesis chapter three. So this is really interesting, really, Paul is so smart. Because he's basically saying, I'm being judged of the Jews. And he's appealing to this guy's knowledge of the Bible or of the religion of the Jews, maybe a little bit of a mix of both there. And he's saying, I'm being judged because I actually believe the plan that God put forth in what the Jews would call the oracles of God, or the Bible that God had given them. Look at Genesis chapter three. So Genesis chapter three is the fall of man. It's like the very first rebellion against God, which after that point of that rebellion, that first sin against God, man at that point, every man that's a sinner needs a savior. So at that point, how much time does God waste before he promises a savior? This is what Paul is referring to. Paul is referring to, he just says to Agrippa, he's like, they're judging me because I actually believe the promise that God has made to them. That God has given to them. Look at Genesis chapter three and verse 15. Genesis chapter three and verse number 15. The Bible says, and I will put enmity, actually look at verse 14. The Lord said unto the serpent, he's talking to Satan here, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and the dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, what shall bruise the head of Satan? He's talking about something's going to bruise the head of Satan. This is a physical reference of someone stomping on a snake, but it's also a spiritual prophecy here. Okay, so it, what is it here? It shall bruise thy head. It is the seed, the seed of the woman. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. So the Bible is saying that basically the seed of the woman is going to crush your head. He is what God is saying to Satan. Now turn to Galatians chapter three. So there's many prophecies, there's many prophecies about the Messiah that get more specific in the Old Testament about what family the Messiah is going to come from, the Messianic prophecy to David saying, David, your kingdom will be in, will be forever lasting. This is all more specific, all God's doing is, is narrowing down the target to the patriarchs there, to the promise that he's already given in Genesis chapter three. So you go to Galatians chapter three. So we're looking at the seed of the woman in Galatians, in Genesis chapter three. Now look at Galatians chapter three. Look at verse number, verse number 15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be a man's covenant, yet if it be a confirmed, no man dissonoleth or addeth thereto. Verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. So this is like basically a huge misunderstood, misunderstood doctrine today that anybody that's like of the genealogy of Abraham is basically like just going to be blessed throughout all history no matter what. But that's not what the Bible is talking about. The seed of Abraham is explained in Galatians chapter three, verse 16. It says, oh, you pastor, it says the seed of Abraham. Look at verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He sayeth not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. The seed, this seed is the same seed as God was prophesying in Genesis chapter three. This seed was the seed that was going to be of the Messiah. Abraham was just the nation that was chosen. God had to choose some nation. God is basically telling the woman in Genesis chapter three that the Messiah is going to be born of men. God is going to come through, you know, being born of men. And of course that's the story of Jesus. Jesus fits that promise. That's why Jesus was born of a virgin. He was born of a human woman Mary. It's the prophecy being fulfilled in Genesis chapter three, and Galatians chapter three, verse 16 is explaining that Abraham's seed is Christ. Abraham's seed is Christ. And anyone who, well, who is Israel, anyone that believes on Christ is spiritual Israel. It's really easy doctrine. It's really simple doctrine. It's really confusing when you start getting into all the dispensational, you know, teachings and like there's different salvation for these people over here and these people over here are going to get a pass and then suddenly this group at some period of time is going to get enlightened and it's confusion is what it is. Everyone saved the same. And God made the promise. He made the plan before the world began. Before the world began. But he told man about the plan in Genesis chapter three in verse number fifteen for the first time. And what Paul is saying in Acts chapter twenty-six, he's saying is look, look, Paul had this. Paul had Genesis three fifteen. They had the oracles of God. You know this is, Paul is like saying, Paul is like a Jew that does believe the Old Testament. That's what he's saying to King Agrippa. He's saying all I'm guilty of is believing their, the, the believing their own religion. That's it. He's saying I'm believing the promise that God gave to the nation of Israel. That's what he's saying. Now look at verse number seven, unto which the, which promise are twelve tribes. Again there's many, many, many messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. But all those messianic prophecies in the Old Testament are just, are just giving more detail, more detail and narrowing down, you know, the Messiah that God promised in Genesis three fifteen. Okay. Which is the seed. Jesus is the seed. Okay. Now unto the promise, unto which promise are twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come. He's just like everyone's hoping for this. And it's come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. So he's saying for just realizing that the Messiah has come, this is why the Jews hate me. Why should it be thought an incredible thing to you that God should raise the dead? He's just saying I believe God is what Paul is saying. I've only thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. So now he's going to kind of go off and just talk about how as a Pharisee he was persecuting the church. Verse ten, which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many saints that I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them. So then he goes off and I'm not, I'm going to kind of, I'm going to kind of skip through verse eleven through verse eighteen. For now I'm going to come back to a couple of those verses at the end of the sermon. This is basically the testimony of Paul's salvation that we saw in Acts chapter eight and Acts chapter nine. Paul was, I mean, Paul was aggressive. He was a go-getter. He was a driver. He was literally going to all these different cities and punishing and just, he was literally hunting. He was hunting Christians. He was there when Stephen was killed in Acts chapter seven and then God steps in and decides that he's going to use Paul in Acts chapter eight and Acts chapter nine. So we're going to pick up in verse number nineteen. So he gives, he gives this testimony that God, you know, intervened with him. And if you look at, if you have a red letter Bible in Acts chapter twenty-six, you know, several of the verses that are read because he's quoting what Jesus said to him when he knocked him off his ride on the, on the ride to Damascus. So he gives this testimony on how he got saved, okay, on how Jesus intervened with him. There is one point that I want to say, actually, look at verse number, look at verse number sixteen. Jesus says to him, he knocks him off his, his, his donkey and he says, but rise, stand up on their feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which I, thou has seen of the, you're going to be a witness of what you just saw and of those things in which I will appear unto thee. So that's just more evidence, more proof that God literally, Jesus literally taught Paul. So if you ever wonder like, how does Paul know all this deep doctrine? Why does, does, why did Paul pen most of the New Testament? Just because those three years that we, we studied in, you know, when Paul was in Arabia, Jesus taught him personally. So that's what Jesus said that he was going to do. He's like, I'm just going to appear unto thee. He's like, there's going to be things that I'm going to show you. So Jesus is basically saying to him, I'm going to teach you, all right. Now go to verse number, skip down to verse number nineteen. He's like, because of this, whereupon O king of grippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. So that's, that's going to be kind of a main theme for the, the sermon tonight. He recognized that he was wrong and he immediately changed. He's like, I immediately obeyed, I immediately did what I was supposed to do, but showed first unto them of Damascus and of Jerusalem and throughout all the coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. Now people use this verse wrong all the time too. But look, what he's saying here is he's kind of giving his, his, he gives a summary of his ministry, of all his missionary journeys that we studied through and what is he preaching? He's preaching that they should repent and turn to God. That's salvation right there, okay? So in order to be saved, you must repent and turn to God. What's repent mean? Does repent mean repent of your sins? That's not what it says. Repent means change your mind. Repent means stop believing whatever you believed, Buddha, Hinduism, nothingism, atheism and turn to God. He literally defines repent in the, in the statement there. He says repent and turn to God. People just add repent of your sins because there's a bunch of false teaching out there that wants to add works to salvation, right? So it says they should repent and turn to God. That's salvation and because here's what you should do after you're saved and do works, meet for repentance, meaning now that you've, you've, you've truly repented and turned to God and got saved, you should now do works, look, you should do works. We should all do works, meet, meet, that M E E T means fitting or proper, you know, it's something that, hey, like God gave you eternal life. You think you could do something? You know, do something for the Lord in your life. That's what he's saying. Go do works that are fitting, that are proper for the eternal life that you've just been given. I mean, how could you possibly read that verse any other way and then make that salvation is not of works true? I mean, this is not that hard, right? I mean, this isn't that hard. Whenever we look at the Bible and we hear somebody preaching something that just contradicts like simple Bible verses, like a really simple one is not of works. I mean, that's like, is that like the simplest thing in the Bible? I mean, it's not of works, but you should do works, not to be saved though, right? You should do works that are just, that's what you're supposed to do. That's what being a disciple means is that you're going to go do works, right? You're going to follow Jesus. Look at verse 21. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing to both small and great, saying none of the things that, than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. He's just, he's preaching the same thing that the Bible has always preached. That Christ should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. Those fruits, remember the resurrection, our resurrection sermon, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. But as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee mad. So of the people, you know, listening to Paul, Festus is probably taking it the least seriously. That's what I get from this statement. You know, I mean, you know, here Paul is talking to King Agrippa about some deep things that he knows that King Agrippa understands. And he's trying to just appeal to King Agrippa's knowledge of what? Knowledge of the Bible that King Agrippa has. And you know, this is like the, you ever get in like a serious conversation with somebody and there's some idiot or something that just keeps making jokes. You know, and you're trying to like have a serious intellectual conversation with somebody. And there's this guy that like he either is not interested or not capable of understanding the conversation. So he just wants to be, you know, silly or goofball or whatever. This is Festus here, all right? He's like, man, he's like, I wanted to just relax tonight. You guys got to talk about all this deep stuff. He says, but he says, I am not mad. He replies to him, most noble Festus. Notice how Paul just always keeps his composure too. You know, he just keeps his composure. But speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth of these things, again, he goes back to the king, right? The king knoweth of these things before whom I also speak freely, for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done in a corner. So he's even saying like, I not only know that the king Agrippa knows about all these things from the Bible, but I know that King Agrippa has heard about Jesus too. I know that King Agrippa has heard about this person that died on the cross and supposedly rose from the dead. He's basically saying that King Agrippa, this is the story that you heard about. I'm explaining to you the truth of it, the truth and the soberness of it, what it truly meant. King Agrippa, believe us thou the prophets. I know that thou believest. Now he lets King Agrippa speak, and this is where we're going to really focus tonight, but look what King Agrippa says. King Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. What he's saying is, what he's saying to Paul is, yeah, I do understand what the prophets say. I do understand all these things. I have heard of this Jesus. What he's saying is, this makes sense. That's what he's saying to Paul. And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, we're both almost and all together such as I am except these bonds. He's like, I wish you would all just believe just like me. He's like, I don't want you to be a prison like me. And then when he had thus spoken, the king rose up and the governor and Bernice and they sat and they that sat with them. They were all gone inside. They talked between themselves saying, this man doeth nothing worthy of death or bonds. Then said King Agrippa, then said Agrippa unto Festus, this man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar. So Agrippa basically, I mean, you could tell Agrippa likes him, Agrippa is thinking about this. You can almost see King Agrippa was moved to a degree from what Paul said. But I want to go back to that verse where King Agrippa said in verse number 28. He says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And look, I don't know if King Agrippa got saved or he didn't. I hope he did. I hope he did. But the one thing that we need to understand in our lives is that not everyone's going to get saved the first time they hear the gospel. And that's what you need to understand as a soul winner. I mean, if that sermon had a title tonight, it would be almost thou persuadest. If you become a soul winner and you go out preaching the gospel to people, you are going to run into people that, look, you'll run into people that you know at the beginning of the conversation, you know they're not going to get saved. But look, if people, if people, first of all, the first point is that not everyone's going to receive it the first time. Guess what? I didn't receive it the first time. The first time somebody preached the gospel to me, I, you know, I burred up a little bit and I had to think about it. I had to let those words sink in. It did make sense the first time I heard it, but I had to think about it. But you have to understand that there's going to be many people out there that you're going to give the gospel to. I mean, we all love in going and finding that person who's just seeking the truth. We all love finding that person, preaching the gospel to them, having them just totally receive it. I mean, we all love that, but there's many, many people who are not going to receive it the first time. And but you will have people tell you this. You will have people say things just like King Agrippa said. You will have people that don't get saved. You will have them say to you, well, I've never had it explained to me that way. You'll have people say things like, oh boy, that, that sure seems simple. Because everything else that they've been taught and really is going to be the point of the sermon tonight is confusing, is confusing and confusion is what it is. So look, not everyone's going to receive it the first time and some people aren't going to receive it at all. And what is the roadblock for people out there? And the roadblock that I really want to talk about tonight is, you know, just false doctrine that's out there. I mean, it's just false doctrine. Now look, this is easy for us, okay? False doctrine is easy for us because, let me tell you something, the minute you get saved, you don't just all of a sudden just learn every doctrine in the Bible like magically. So you could get saved and believe the Gospel as the Gospel is the simplicity of Christ the Bible says. The Bible, you know, calls the Gospel, you know, the simple things in the Bible. But there's a lot of complicated, many, many, many doctrines in the Bible and getting saved is not just going to make you know all the doctrines just like that. But for the saved, you know, it's more difficult for different people but what you have to understand is that false beliefs that you've been raised with, that you've been taught in your life, they can still block your Christian growth. So for the saved, I mean, look, the answer is easy. The answer is easy if you're saved because if you're saved you believe the Bible, right? If you're saved you believe the Bible. That doesn't mean you know the Bible but if you're saved, if you're saved and somebody shows you something in the Bible clearly, you'll believe it if you're saved. Because the Bible is Jesus and Jesus is the Bible. Jesus is the Word. Now, if you have somebody who's like, oh yeah, I'm saved but I don't believe that stuff in 1 Corinthians 5, I don't believe in that stuff in Romans 1, I mean, I hate to say I doubt that person's salvation but I do, okay? Because you can't just like not believe parts of the Bible because the whole Bible is the Word of God. So if you believe the Bible, I mean, you're saved which means you believe the Bible, all you have to do is just implement it as you learn it. That's all you have to do. You just got to kind of reset all the false things that you've been taught in your life and somehow just be like, you know, everything I've been taught is wrong, you know, and just move on with what the Bible says. But what we're seeing here in Acts chapter 26 with King Agrippa is somebody that's unsaved that has some sort of teaching that they've been learning or been taught in their life keeping them from accepting the Gospel. Because look, whatever it is, somebody preaches the Gospel to you, the reason you don't get saved the first time is because you're still hanging on to these beliefs over here. And you have to let go of those beliefs, repent and turn to the Gospel. You can't just like add stuff. It's all Jesus or nothing, it's Jesus, 100%, everything else, 0%. You know, that's salvation. But the point is, years of false doctrine, even though the Gospel will make sense to people, years of false doctrine, it can be a stumbling block for people. It can literally stop them from getting saved. And really what we need to understand, you know, I mean, it's just, it's a long bridge to cross for some people that have been taught for 30 years, 20 years, some other Gospel. It's hard for them to cross that bridge in 20 minutes. But this is really the danger, folks, of false prophets. This is the danger of false prophets. This is the danger of the Mormon false prophet. This is the danger of the Catholic priest. This is the danger of the Jehovah's Witness. This is the danger of, you know, the Calvinist. And this is the danger of the Lordship salvation, you know, preacher. And all these different false doctrines is they're literally stopping other people from getting saved. Right? They're literally putting roadblocks in people's lives of getting saved. And look, turn to Psalm chapter 119. Psalm chapter 119, it's a big deal. And we should take it as a big deal. I know you see so many of these people in our society today that it almost becomes normal. It almost becomes normal. But we should never forget, you know, what these people are. Look, I'm not talking about the Jehovah's Witness. I'm not talking about the Catholic. I'm talking about the preacher. I'm talking about the teacher. I'm talking about the priest. I'm talking about the actual prophet themselves that is teaching these things. All right? What does God think about it? Look at verse number 104 of Psalm chapter 119. Psalm chapter 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, just talking about the word of God. And how important the law of God is. Look at verse number 104. It says, through thy precepts I get understanding. You sing, through the Bible, through all your doctrines, this is where I get my understanding God. And what does he say about the false ways, the false Gospels, the false teachers. They are a hate every false way. He hates the false gospel. He hates the false way. Why? Because it's sending people to hell. That's why. So look, Agrippa wasn't just believing nothing. There was something blocking him. We don't know what that was. There was something standing in his way of salvation. He had some other ideas of something, as compelling as the gospel was. And look, I hope he got saved. But there was something at that point that Paul was not able to completely break through. And this is the danger of false prophets right here. And the false prophets of that day of that religion were the Jews. Were the religious leaders of the Jews. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. So look, false prophets should not be taken lightly. First John chapter 4. I'm sorry. First John chapter 4. Look at verse number 1. The Bible talks very seriously about false prophets. Look at 1 John chapter 4. First John chapter 4. The Bible says, in 1 John chapter 4, it says, beloved, 1 John chapter 4, I'm going to go ahead and turn there myself just to make sure that I have the right reference here. But in 1 John chapter 4, look down at verse number 1. The Bible says, believe not every spirit. It says, beloved, believe not every spirit. But try the spirits, whether they are of God. How do you try the spirits? Whether they are of God. It's like test them. It's like test them. You know, how do you test the spirits and see if they are of God? You compare it to what the Bible says. And look, somebody who, so is somebody who knows the Bible going to be better at this than someone who doesn't know anything of the Bible? Of course. This is why many false prophets, many false religions, they don't want people having Bibles. They don't want people reading the Bible. They create their own Bibles. They create their own Bible versions. I mean, literally the Jehovah's Witnesses and, you know, they make up a different Bible, the Book of Mormon or whatever. You know, they see a vision and completely change the Bible. But you're able to teach people those things because people don't know the Bible. So they can't try the spirits. They don't know. Because they don't know what the Spirit of God says. They don't know what the Bible says. I mean, if you're going to come to me and you're going to say, like, you know, you're going to come to me and you're going to say, well, you have to do work to be saved. I'm going to be like, well, the Bible says not of works. Gotcha. You know, I mean, you don't have to know that much Bible to disprove most of these false religions. Because it's just the gospel is so simple, it doesn't take much to learn the gospel. And if you're saved, you've already heard it. You've already believed it. All right. So look what the Bible says here. It says, but try the spirits, whether they have God. Why? Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Look, you know what? There's a lot of them. There's a lot of them. That's why 90% of churches today in America have the false gospel. The Bible tells you why right here, because many false prophets. Now there are few that be saved. It's the same philosophy. Most people are going to hell. It doesn't make me happy to say that, but most people are not saved, Jesus said. You know, straight is the gate. Narrow is the way that leads to life. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Broad is the false prophets. It's the same thing. There's many of them. There's many of them. You say why? Second Peter chapter 2. Second Peter chapter 2, just a few pages back in your Bible, right before 1 John, you've got the book of 2 Peter. Go to 2 Peter chapter 2. Second Peter chapter 2 gives a really nice dissertation on false prophets and what their problem is, why they do it, and what God thinks of it. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 1. So there's many. There's few true prophets. There's few true prophets. And there's many false prophets. I mean, that kind of explains what we're seeing today, doesn't it? Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So Peter here is saying, he's like, hey, there's all kinds of false prophets everywhere. He's like, there's even going to be false prophets that come in here. So just FYI, if you see somebody come into the church that starts spreading crazy doctrines and weird stuff around the church, well, the Bible said so. The Bible said that's what's going to happen. Who shall privily bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and shall 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. You say, why do they do it? Look at verse 3. It says, and through covetousness shall they with famed words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now the long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. So the first reason that false prophets do it is pretty simple. It's for the money. I mean, you read some of these stories that we went through in the American heresy series. You read some of these stories, and it's just like, you can't believe that people went along with this. You know, the Jehovah's Witness cult in the early 1900s where the guy said, you know, the world's going to end on this date, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are coming back, and we need to have a nice place for them. We need to have a nice, what's, build a mansion for them. Build this massive mansion. It's still in LA, this massive mansion. They built it in the 20s or 30s. I can't remember the date. And the cult leaders, like, all stay there until they get there, all live there. I got this. And it's like, just people go along with this stuff. You know, people go along with it, but why did he do it? It's for the money. It's for the money. He wanted a nice house. I mean, you know, you can go out, you can work hard for years, and you can just do what the Bible says, or you can just start a cult and get people to build you a mansion. I guess it's one way to go. Look at verse number four. But look, I mean, if you're starting to kind of see the language here, you're starting to realize that these false prophets, you know, these false prophets that the Bible's talking about here in 2 Peter chapter two, they're reprobates. They're reprobates, meaning God has rejected them. God has already reserved damnation for them, eternal damnation. All right? Look at verse four. It says, for God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell. Comparing the angels, they are going to be cast into hell to these guys, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world. Now he talks about all the unsafe people that were killed before the flood. He's not going to know how he just wiped out the whole old world, but saved no other eighth person, the preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. So, I mean, that's another thing. I mean, just look at these examples that God is giving here. He's talking about the angels that followed Satan. He's talking about all the people that God killed in the flood. Oh, God loves everybody. Did he love all the people that he killed in the flood? He destroyed them. Did he love all the wicked Canaanites, and Hittites, and all the people in the promised land that they went and just utterly destroyed? No, there was a point that those people reached where God's like, you're done. I mean, that is such a clear doctrine in the Bible. It's just a totally fake thing that's preached today. Same thing, Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah, God loved them. That's why he destroyed them. No, he's like, you're done. He went in and he took out the righteous people. He had the whole argument. I mean, he had the whole argument with Abraham. If there's this many, he went from 40 all the way down to 10. And God was just basically telling Abraham, there's nobody that's righteous there, like two, just a handful. And so he went and he took out the righteous. And he just destroyed everybody else. He delivered just a lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. So Lot didn't come out undamaged. He was twisted from it. Look, he was still saved. But if you go and you just live amongst a bunch of sick, twisted perverts and sodomites for years with your family, it's like, look at twisted him. He was vexed with just the filthiness of it and the conversation of it all. Says, for that righteous man dwelleth among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. So he's just making this comparison. He says, if God can handle dealing with these people, he says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. So he's comparing these false prophets to those reprobates that we just went through there. And then he's saying, look, God can deliver us from them. So when they come in here, it's like, we'll be delivered from them as long as we do what the Bible says we were supposed to do. Skip down to verse number 12. Now, it just gets really specific about what he thinks about the false prophets. You're like, I don't know if they're reprobates, pastor. Look at verse number 12. But these, as natural, brute beasts, made to be taken out and destroyed. Does that sound like they can be saved? Speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. This is what God thinks of the false prophet that's perverting the gospel today. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness. What's the reward of unrighteousness? What's that reward going to be? It's going to be the great white throne judgment where you're judged by your works. And you're going to go to hell. You're going to be thrown into the lake of fire, having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. This is just showing you how these people are. The guiling, unstable souls. This is really the wickedness of the false prophet, is they go and they just trick, they trick, and they fool, and they draw in unstable people. And heart that they exercise with covetous practices again. And then look what it says, cursed children. Cursed children. Now I'm going to reference back to Genesis 3.15. Remember how it said the woman's seed? And then it also said Satan's. It was referencing Satan's seed as well. This is that seed, the cursed children. This is the children of Belial that you see. He's pointing out these are people that are not just, I don't know. I'm just unsaved. I don't know what to do. They're not king of grippas. They are people that are literally working for Satan. They're on Satan's side. They're cursed children, which have forsaken the right way. This is interesting. This matches exactly Romans chapter 1. It says they've forsaken in verse 15. They've forsaken the right way. Does that say they didn't know the right way? No, they know the right way. They didn't want the right way. They knew God, and they did not acknowledge Him as God. And they wanted to change God. They wanted to change the truth of God into a lie. The same thing here. They've forsaken the right way. They knew what the right way was, and they rejected it. And God rejected them. And they're gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bowsar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Again, pointing out their covetousness there. So look, they knew the right way. Look at verse 16. Just like Romans 1. Just like Romans 1. But it was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with a man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet, talking about the story of Balaam. For these are wells without water. Now it talks about these guys, these false prophets. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever. I mean, it cannot get any clearer where God is going to send these people. For they speak great swelling words of vanity, and they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escape from them who live in error. They allure people. Look, they turn to Acts chapter 20. They allure people in with lust. They allure people in with, they're in it for the money. And then they allure people in with promises of power and promises of covetousness for those people and all these different things. Look at Acts chapter 20 in verse number 30. What they're doing is these false prophets, they're trying to allure disciples to themselves. In Acts chapter 20 in verse number 30, the Bible warns it says, also of your own selves, this is Paul warning the church, also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things. Why? To draw away disciples after them. To draw away disciples after them. And let me ask you a question. Is that what we're trying to do here? Is that what we're trying to do? No, we're trying to draw disciples. We're trying to make disciples here. But in Colossians chapter 118, actually turn to Colossians chapter 1, we're not trying to, I'm not trying to draw disciples after me. I'm not trying to make Pastor Pozarski disciples here. What we're trying to do is make disciples of Jesus Christ here, not after ourselves. Just like in 3rd John chapter 1 where he had this man, Diatrophes, who was, he was, he just loved to have the preeminence and he was trying to draw people to himself. In Colossians chapter 118, the Bible tells us who should have the preeminence. It says, and he is the head of the body of the church, talking about Jesus, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. We're creating disciples for Jesus Christ here. That's what we're doing. The false prophet, it's really easy to see the false prophet because of the covetousness, because of the vain glory that is his goal, all right? They just want to have control. They want to have preeminence. They want to get money from people. Turn to Isaiah chapter 14. You know, these actually turn to Galatians chapter 1. We'll go to Galatians chapter 1 first. But that's why a lot of these cults, you see these people using these tactics to use people's lusts, meaning people's desires for things to draw them in to this false religion or false belief. My wife was just telling me about this story about this Mormon lady who, this Mormon cult mom that's in the news that apparently murdered her children or husband, or somebody murdered them in part of this scheme. But basically, there was this cult leader, this Mormon cult leader, and he began to have an extramarital affair with this woman. And he told the woman, it's fine, because we were married when we were ruling another planet in other lives or whatever. You laugh, but this ended up in murder. And I mean, they just basically killed everybody. And he convinced this woman that in order for her husband and her children, they had been taken over by zombies. This is real. This happened. They're taken over by zombies. In order for them to be freed by the zombies, they must be killed. So I mean, they're justifying. What are they justifying? They're justifying adultery, they're justifying murder through all this just craziness. But here's the thing, folks, you're in Galatians chapter 1, right? You're in Galatians chapter 1. You have to understand that, I mean, just take the Mormon religion as an example. This is why Paul warned. Paul warned, the Mormon religion as an example could be stopped at the very beginning if we just read Galatians chapter 1 and listened to what the Bible said. Because Paul said, I mean, notice, how did the Mormon religion get started? Because some guy made up some story that the angel Moroni, that's real, Moroni, I don't know if I'm saying that right, but it's fake anyway. The angel Moroni gave him these plates and this extra biblical doctrine that completely contradicts the Bible, by the way. So you try those spirits, garbage, even though there was no plates, there was never any plates. But the point is this, if we just listen to Paul, but once you accept that, oh, I had a vision, the sky's the limit is what I'm trying to get you to understand. Like this woman and this guy that just manipulates her, I mean, maybe drives her crazy or she's demon possessed or whatever, but look at Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6. That's why Paul says this. He says, I marvel not that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ and into another gospel. He's like, they had people already coming in the church, Paul left, they had people coming in preaching to another gospel already. He's like, I'm just shocked. But then he warns them, he says, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. They add works, they change the gospel. But now look what he says in verse 8. Notice what he says. He says, though we are any angel from heaven. Isn't that interesting? He literally calls out the angel from heaven. Oh, oh, but Joseph Smith's like, oh, but it was an angel from heaven. Hey, I'm covered. You're a liar. Because Paul is saying, literally if I come back here, Paul says, if I come back here, or anybody representing me comes back here and perverts the gospel, don't believe him. He's saying, if an angel from heaven shows up to you. So if some guy comes to my door, tomorrow I'll say, hey, an angel from heaven told me that there's a different gospel. I'm like, get out of here, man. Because why? Because I have the Bible. But yet so many people, I mean, I don't even know how big the Mormon church is. But I mean, it's huge. And then you have this guy, so he got this cult leader that kind of branches off from the Mormon church. And what does he do? He's got a bunch of visions. The same thing with Seven Day Adventists. And this LNG White. I got a bunch of visions. Well, hey, if anybody can get a vision, we're good. Let's just have visions all over the place. Hey, I had a vision. Build me a mansion. Hey, I had a vision. Let's move to the jungle and kill ourselves. Hey, I had a vision. Let's go commit mass murder. Hey, I had a, I mean, Charles Manson, all these different people. Hey, I had a vision. And people will follow it. Because why? Because they're not trying the spirits. Because they have no idea what the Bible says. And look, they don't know the simple things about the Bible. I mean, that's complicated, right? Hey, church, though I or any angel from heaven come here and tell you that the gospel, that the way to heaven has anything to do with works, they're accursed. Is that complicated? No, but people just don't know what the Bible says. So they just fall into this, you know, it's a lot of it's silly life-wasting stuff that at worst is, I mean, at best, they're just gonna be damned. They're just gonna end up in hell and not get saved. But at worst, it can just lead to these terrible situations that just lead to murder and mass murder many times, mass suicide. But I mean, you got visions that people can, anybody can just have a vision. That's how you end up with, hey, you know, planets and we're all gonna have our own planet. And did you go to Isaiah 14? Did I tell you to go there? The Mormon religion is literally like, it's the closest false religion to Satan's personality, actually. Because it teaches, it teaches, just to get into a little rabbit trail on this one, it literally teaches that you can become as powerful as Jesus. It literally teaches that Jesus was just somebody who did everything right and that he got his own planet, which is Earth, right? And if you do everything right, and you, what is it again? It's so, it's so unoriginal. It's just another crazy version of works. If you do the right works and you live the right life, you too can have your own planet just like Jesus. I mean, it is literally the exact personality, the exact goal, personality wasn't the right word. It's the exact goal of Satan. Look at Isaiah 14 and verse number 14. Make sure you all go there because this is exactly what the Mormon church teaches. So to be snagged by this one is odd if you know anything about the Bible. But look at verse number 14. Isaiah 14, 14. This is why Satan got kicked out of heaven because what was his problem? What did he decide that he wanted? What was up with Satan? This is Satan's attitude right here. He says, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. That is Mormonism right there. You do the right works and you can be like the most high. I'm sorry, but if you follow that, you are gonna be in hell and you will be in hell with the person that started this philosophy, which was Satan himself. So look, they create beliefs back to the point of the sermon. They create beliefs that can hinder people from getting saved. They can hinder people from getting saved. Turn to Matthew chapter 23. Turn to Matthew chapter 23. Look at verse number 15. You'll find people, folks, you will find people out there today soul winning. I just found one of these last week. This lady said to me, she said, hey, I've been going to this church for 23 years. I'm not changing. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not trying to take it from your church. I just wanna show you what the Bible says. That's all. It's more important to me. It's more important to me that you know the truth than getting you to, I love for you to come to church, but it's more important to me, the very first goal is just to show you what the Bible says. She says, no, I've been in this religion for 23 years. She was Pentecostal. I've been in this religion for 23 years, and I'm not changing. That's what she said. And look, she's not a false prophet. She was not a false prophet, but if she continues that attitude, she's not gonna be saved. She's gonna end up in hell. Look at verse 23, verse 15 of Matthew 23. He says, woe unto you scribes. Now do you understand the seriousness and the anger that God has towards the false prophet? Do you understand the hatred that God has towards the false prophet? Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass, see and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. What Jesus is saying is that you're going out there, false prophet, and you're teaching these people this stuff that you're teaching them for 23 years, and they just will never let it go. And you're making children of hell out of them because they'll never get saved. They will never be able to step over that stumbling block. You're making people that believe this false doctrine and they're just done. So look, we shouldn't take it lightly, is what I'm trying to get you to understand. All right, turn to first, second John chapter one. Second John chapter one. You say, ah, pastor, they're just, Benny Hinn's just in it for the money. You know, he's just in it for the money. They're really doing any harm. You know, he's just some guy that that's what he wanted to do for his job, and he's a good actor and all this stuff, or is he? I mean, I don't think so, but you know, he doesn't mean any harm by it. No, what we need to understand is they are murdering people's souls. They are murdering people's souls. Look at second John chapter one in verse number 10. It says that they're come in any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house. Now remember this part, neither bid him God's speed. Now, this is a tough one, but you gotta remember this one out soul winning too. You meet that, you know, you walk up and you meet that false prophet at the door, or you meet that false prophet out soul winning somewhere and they tell you, hey, I'm a false prophet. Well, they're not gonna say that, but they're gonna say, hey, I'm a Catholic priest, or I'm a whatever teacher of this Jehovah's Witness church, or whatever, and don't be like, oh, well, God bless you, have a great day. That's what the Bible's saying not to do. Just say, hey, and look, I had a guy, like literally like follow me out of his house about two or three months ago on Saturday, because I was just like, yeah, I'm a teacher of this, and I think he was a Mormon, and I just understand. That's what I said, I just walked away. And he just like, you know what, you know what that showed? It showed that I didn't believe that. It was just a slight disapproval. And like he got in his car and he's like following me down the street, and he's like, oh, let me, and I'm like, you know, but look, understand and just walk away. You know, I'm not saying start screaming at people, but like it's just not saying, hey, God bless you, or oh, I go to the, you know, the seventh day church or whatever, it's like, well, that's great. No, it's not great. And it's not great, and we shouldn't show that it's great. All right, and it's sad, it's sad, but these people are, they're murdering people's eternal souls, and that's what we need to realize. It's a very serious thing. God, God's done with them. The false prophets, he's rejected them, and he's got a place reserved for them. You know, everlasting chains. I mean, that's as harsh as it comes. All right, now look, as far as us, just to conclude tonight, as far as us goes, I have to wrap it up here, but as far as us, when I got saved, there was a lot of false teaching that I still had. All right, there was a lot of false teaching that I still had. When I got saved, and I started reading the Bible and understanding the Bible, there was a lot of things that I just, you know, I'm thankful that I didn't have a lot of end times false teaching in my life, because Lutherans really just don't preach on the end times, because they don't understand any of it. They just say, oh, it was already done, or we can't understand that, or whatever. But I didn't have that, but I mean, there's a lot of doctors you come across and you're like, oh man, the Bible really says that. You know, I mean, I was taught my whole life that drinking's okay in the Bible. Drinking alcohol was okay in the Bible. I mean, that's just like, that was a doctrine that Jesus turned water into wine. You know, I just didn't understand what the Bible says. But look at what you have to understand is, first of all, your conscience will give, we'll figure that one out for you. But the point is, all we have to do is just wipe the slate clean, and just be like, it's in the Bible, it's right there, and just believe it. And just like, you're gonna believe it, but don't go back to Acts chapter 26 and let's end here. Don't do this. And I love this phrase that Jesus uses. He uses it in Acts 8 and Acts chapter 26. But talking to Paul, he says this, because look, if you're saved and you read the doctrines in the Bible, whatever doctrines it is on Christian standards, on dress standards, on all the different things that we talk about constantly in this church, you're gonna believe it. You're gonna believe it. But what you could do is burr up against it. What you could do is be like, I don't like that one. But you believe it, but you just, you know what you're doing? You're kicking against the pricks. That's what you're doing. You're just gonna waste time in your life. And just forget it all. Just wipe the slate clean, and if it's in the Bible, just put it into practice, make a decision that if it's in there, just go with it. And you know, and look, there's a lot of things that our only hangups in our Christian lives are things that we don't know. That should be our only hangups. But guess what? I mean, if you start coming to, if you come to this church, you're gonna know. Because I'm gonna say everything. All right, there's gonna be times you'd be like, I can't believe you said that. But it's in there. It's in there. So the only hangup should be things that you don't know. And if you come to church, you know, here you're gonna know. And you know, if you come to church once a week, you're gonna know. If you come to church twice a week, you're gonna know twice as fast. You come to church three times a week, you're gonna know three times as fast. It's just all about Christian growth. But if you burr up against stuff, you're just stopping your own growth, is what you're doing. You just, you know, you're hardening your heart against God's word, right? Just save yourself the turmoil, is what I'm trying to get you to understand. Just hear what the Bible says and execute it. But false prophets are a serious thing. Agrippa, I mean, I just, you know, I've heard that so many times. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And guess what, folks? Another thing, I'll preach the gospel to somebody that I know is gonna listen, that I know is not gonna get saved. If they're gonna listen though, it is not a waste of time to preach the gospel to somebody. If I know, look, if somebody says right away, I don't believe the Bible, man wrote that, you know, whatever, you know, I'm probably not gonna waste my time with that person, but if there's somebody that's just like, yeah, I don't really know, you know? And I don't think they're gonna get saved because they got a bunch of different hangups. I'll preach the gospel if they're gonna listen with an open heart. Because look, God's word has the power and they'll move in that person's heart. Whether they get saved at that door or they get saved, you know, two years down the road, I got a lot of friends like that. You know, they got the gospel, you know, several times God brought someone to their door and then finally they just, you know, oh yeah, okay. Then other people were like, you know, they got saved and they didn't get into church right away and then somebody came to their door years later and then they got into church. You know, so, you know, understand that people may not get saved the first time. People have hangups. And they have hangups because there's a lot of false teaching out there which is a very serious thing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.