In this sermon, the preacher warns the audience to be cautious of persuasive leaders who will deceive the world into creating an image of a man. He emphasizes the importance of using the word of God as the foundation of preaching and advises against using excessive personal opinions. The preacher also highlights the negative impact of allowing the devil to speak through one's words and actions, urging the audience to be mindful of their behavior. The sermon references Matthew 26:31, where Jesus predicts that his followers will be offended because of him, and connects it to the deceptive nature of the persuasive leader mentioned earlier.

7, 16, O troubled heart, there is a balm to heal thy every wound. In thy Redeemer's bleeding side, that balm alone has found, the hidden anguish of the soul, the burning tears that fall, the thigh that rends thy aching breast. Thy Savior knows them all. 716, please. And we're going through to the end of the chapter this evening. In this chapter, last week, we looked after this first beast. And again and again in the chapter, he is called the first beast. And I said that this was the last dictator in this world. And we're looking at this second beast this evening. And I've called this second beast the last dictator's friend. And I want to read a verse or two to just assure you of why I said that. We're at verse eleven. John says, And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he speak as a dragon, and he exercises all the power of the first beast before him. And causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast. That's one of the reasons that I said he's the last dictator's friend, because he's causing the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast. That's one of the reasons that I stick tight to the first beast being the Antichrist. Because the men that say the second beast is the Antichrist, they're saying that the Antichrist will try to get the world to worship someone else. They cannot accept that, of course. Now, I think that this is the last dictator who is the Antichrist, this is the last dictator's friend. You see, verse thirteen, And he doeth great wonders, this second beast, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those medicals, mind you this is all deception, by the means of those medicals which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. That is, in the sight of the first beast. Saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image of the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. And the people who say the first beast is the Roman Empire, surely you don't make an image of an empire, do you? You ever see one? And he goes on here, he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should go speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And because of all those small and great and rich and poor and free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, herein is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. I don't know how they worked empire into this, because this image and this number has to do with man. It's the number of a man. And so I'm calling this second one, The Last Dictator's Friend. Now, when you look at the whole chapter, looking at it broadly, you'll find that there are three great personalities in the chapter. The way up there, up verse 2, we notice the first beast, John says, which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his cheek were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him, and the word him would tell us it's a personality, and the dragon, that's the first personality. And then this first beast is a person. And then this last one, this second beast is a person. So that we have three great personalities in the chapter. And of course we know that the dragon is the old devil. And I believe that the first beast is the Antichrist. Now, we must be sure about who this second one is. Let's try to be sure. Let's go to the book of Revelation 19 for a moment. Revelation 19. Now, this is the place and the time where the Lord Jesus leaves heaven and comes back to earth. Verse 11. John says, And I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful Untruth, capital F, capital T. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. It's the Lord Jesus. And down the chapter John said, verse 19, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophets that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the horse. So that you can see that this third one is called the false prophets. And these three great personalities are in chapter 13. I believe that this is a satanic trinity. That's what I believe. I believe that Satan has always wanted to be like God. I will be like the Most High is the very statement where sin began. And you see, he himself wants to be the anti-God. And the first beast is the anti-Christ. And the false prophet, this one that we're looking at this evening, is the anti-spirit. For the work of the spirit in this dispensation is to get everybody to bow down and worship Christ. His great work is to glorify Christ. And the work of this second beast is to get the whole world to bow down and worship the first one. So I'm sure that this is a satanic trinity that we have in this dispensation. But we're not thinking any more about the first beast or the satanic trinity. We're thinking about this second beast this evening, commencing at verse 11 and going through to verse 18. First of all, you'll notice that in verse 11 that he had two horns like a lamb. And I think it's this word, lamb, that has thrown a great many of the expositors away from the truth. But we'll find out that this is a deceptive lamb. All the thieving that's going on here. You'll find that he's a leader. And he's a very persuasive leader. We'll find him speaking and persuading the people this evening. And I've got a lot to say about this oratory and this eloquence. We've got to be very careful about it. And we'll find that he's not only a lamb and a leader, but he's a great lecturer. And he demonstrates as a lecturer. He makes a fire to come down and he pretends to give life to the very image. I'm sure tonight that both the fire and the light are only deceptions. But he's a very demonstrative lecturer. And we'll find that he's a great labourer. He labours hard. He labours to get the whole world. He conscripts the world. He causes all, both small and great and rich and poor, causes them to bow down before the beast. So we're looking at this second beast this evening. The lamb, the leader, the lecturer, the labourer. Now, in all these studies, there's something I've got to do all the time. I must remember the flock that's around me. And you know, we have a great many lambs in the flock, just young believers, not long saved. And each week I've got to take a portion somewhere and have a special portion for the young folks because they need milk, the milk of the word. Oh, I know that we'll come to the meat after that, but here's something for you young folks to get your teeth into and then to think about. You know, it would be an easy study for you to contrast God's love with Satan's love, because I'm sure that this one is Satan's. And I think this would be a very easy contrast for you. If I started you off, maybe you could do the rest of the study on your own. You see, if you think of God's lamb, John the Baptist said, Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And you can see quite clearly that he is the subtracting lamb. He's taking away the sin of the world. But if you contrast God's lamb with the devil's lamb, you'll find that while God's lamb taketh away and subtracts sin, this one multiplies it. He multiplies sin on the earth. He doesn't take it away. He just multiplies it. You're bound to see the contrast. I'm just starting you on a little study that's a very interesting one. You know this, I think you know this, that Peter said, For we know that we are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And God's lamb redeems. But Satan's lamb enslaves. He just makes slaves out of everybody around him. And if you don't get a mark of the beast that he's trying to exalt, then you're for it. I think you can see the sort of contrast that you can make. Maybe I can take time to do more for you. You know, our Lord Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and the New Testament says, As a lamb before her shears of dung. You know, you can see him standing there where man spat in his face. You can see the soldiers slapping him on the chest. You can see him being struck on the head with the reed or the chain. And the uttered never a word. I think that this dumbness that was there, it's just teaching us the humanity of our wonderful Lord. He humbles himself, you know. But you know, there's a difference between the dumbness of God's lamb and the dragon, the voice that speaks like a dragon here. Because this is what it says. He had two horns like a lamb, and he speaks as a dragon. You can see the contrast. In the one you get the humility, in the other you get the ferocity. Have I done enough for you? Can you go on with the subject? And I assure you, you know, you can do it about twenty times. Do another one for you. You know, this one here, see, because I'm only pretending to give life. Ah, but Christ is the life. Him, Him, was the life. And I can tell you it's life, more abundant. And after you fill it all in, you can end it like this. You can see God's lamb in the glory. And all heaven bows. And all the creatures bow. And he's blessed forever, in eternity. And if you see the end of the devil's lamb, he's burned forever. In eternity. Have you got the contrasts now? Or you can fill the rest of it in. Yes, I think that you can see that this is a deceptive lamb. You know, the Lord Jesus, when he was preaching about these days, you remember what he said in Matthew 24? Let's go back to Matthew 24. Matthew's gospel, chapter 24. And he's talking here about the great tribulation. The great tribulation is what we have been looking at in these chapters right through from chapter 6. Verse 21, we're at Matthew 24, 21. For then shall the great tribulation, as such ours was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. It's easy to mark up a tribulation period, you know, because there was never anything before like it. And there will never be anything like it after it. It's just one period, you know. Actually 42 months long. And it's quite easy to get the period if you go through the Scriptures. But it will be so wicked that it says, and except those days of tribulation should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, because God will have an elect remnant, of course, in those days, and we'll see them next week, won't we? The 144,000, they're still there, you know, on Mount Zion. And for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then, just at that time, 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 I wonder that some of the expositors don't see the difference. Because they've switched it around, you know, and make the false prophet the false Christ. Are you listening? Because I think the first one is the false Christ, and the second one is the false prophet. And that's exactly how it's put before you here by the Lord Jesus. He says, there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders. Didn't the Lord tell them all about it long before the book of Revelation was written? In so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. The 144,000 were in danger of being deceived, but it was not possible. You see, the Lord had foretold of these days. So I think that you can see quite clearly that this Lamb that we're thinking about, this second beast, is the false prophet, and he's not the false Christ. And I think that you can see quite clearly that he hath all kinds of deception. But we'll come to that just in a moment. Now, let's leave the thought of the deceptive Lamb and have a look at this persuasive leader. You see, he speaks as a dragon in verse 11. He seems to have great oratorial powers. Speak out loud. I'll have to be careful here, won't I, lest I get mixed up with him. Well, we've got to expand this. It says in verse 14, I'm deceived of them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which hath the wound by a sword underneath. You know, he's persuading, and I think he hath great persuasive powers. I think he hath great oratorial powers. A real eloquent speaker. Now, I want to say that sometimes I've been labelled as an eloquent speaker and as a narrator of one kind and another. And I want to say this very carefully. It doesn't make a matter how eloquent a man may be or what oratorial powers he might possess. Don't you let him rush you and saying that about me. You make sure that I'm taking you to the Scripture every time. That I'm not just talking you into something. And you make sure about that and that about every other preacher too. Because I can tell you, you know, the devil has mighty powers. Let me show you something that happened almost all on the one day. Let's go back to Matthew's Gospel. And we're at chapter 16. Matthew's Gospel. Chapter 16. Verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi and I can remember the day when I was down at Caesarea Philippi. Just on the coast of the Mediterranean there. Sat on the rocks down at the shore and washed my feet or at least bathed them in the blue waters of the Mediterranean. And it was down there one day the Lord Jesus asked his disciples saying Who do men say that I the Son of Man am? Just asking a simple question. Look around. Who do men say? And they said, they answered him Some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some Elias. And others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said unto them But whom say ye that I am? And they're all silent and then Peter stood forward and Simon Peter answered and said Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That's a mighty statement you know. I don't think it would give us the quiver in saying it this evening. But I think you know that if you saw a man standing with a long eastern robe and sandals and a long beard and he looks as if he's just flesh and blood and no more It might have taken a bit out of you to stand up and say Thou art the Messiah Thou art the Christ Thou art the King of Israel And then to go a bit further and say Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God That might have taken the starch out of you if you had to do it. It was the great saying. And I assure you there was real eloquence and oratory there just at that moment. Verse seventeen And Jesus answered and said unto him You know the Lord was thrilled with him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee He didn't get this in a Bible school you know Nor a college Oh I'm not saying anything about them We've got the Bible school and Saturday we'll have about plenty of the preachers around me here out there And it's just to help them a little bit But Peter didn't get this at the school And he didn't get it at a college And a degree didn't mean anything to him He was a normal and ignorant man He had been alone with God And the Lord is saying to him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee But my Father which is in heaven You know if you get along with God sometime He'll tell you wee things Tell you a whole lot of wee things And the trouble with some of you You don't get along with God You're too busy Now that's Peter talking It's God that's talking to him It's the Father talking to him It's my Father The Father was using his lips just then As you go down the chapter we come to verse 21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples How that he must go unto Jerusalem And suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes And be killed And be raised again the third day Then Peter, same Peter, same day Took him, began to rebuke him saying Be it far from me Lord This shall not be unto thee But he the Lord Jesus turned and said unto Peter Get thee behind me sitting As the devil is talking to him now As not many are later is it And you know it was almost as eloquent and oratorial wasn't it Be it far from me Lord This shall not be unto thee It was the old devil that was talking now So you've got to watch the talkers haven't you I plead with you to watch the talkers My only defense in this place is this book And if I can keep you aloof to the page you can't argue very much James McKendrick you know took me in hand when I was a small boy as far as preaching was concerned Some of our students out of the school when I took the ears off them They think the old man is terrible You want to be brought up where I was brought up I'll tell you James McKendrick would have taken no nonsense with you And he said to me one day you know he used to shake me He's a boy shaking me now wouldn't he Used to shake me I want you to get the hold of this when you're preaching Preaching is like a picture on the wall And the whole picture inside must be the word of God And the frame must be as thin as you can make it That's your own words The frame must be your own words Make it a wee thin frame That's good preaching you know Because when I listen to some of them it's all frame and no picture Yes if you don't watch the old devil I'll talk through you Let me stop now Go back through the day from early morning to now Did the Lord speak through you today Tell me yes did the devil speak through you Did you ridicule some brother today Did you pull somebody's character apart Yes the old devil was using the lips Yes I want you to get the hold of that Look over in Matthew again it's not many days later Matthew 26 The Lord Jesus is talking about going to the cross again Verse 31 Matthew 26 verse 31 Then said Jesus unto them All ye shall be offended because of me this night For it is written I will smite the shepherds And the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad But after I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Peter he's talking again Peter answered and said Though all men shall be offended because of thee Yet will I never be offended Then quickly Jesus said Verily I say unto thee that this night Before the cock crowed Thou shall deny me thrice You know who was talking now It was the old man inside him that was talking His old self that was talking Some big fellows around you know They're all both It's all I I I I will never do it you know It's all I hear it all the time I hear it even in testimony I tell you you need to watch you know Cause the devil can talk through you And the old self that's within you can talk through you And if you would get alone with God Why God would talk through you You don't think we run these meetings without getting alone with God I've been alone with God from five this morning Friend watch the talkers Watch the talkers And watch your talk Cause I'll tell you that we're going to have a bit of talk in this world In the day that's to come Because there's a very persuasive leader coming And he's going to talk the world Into making an image of the man It can't be an image of an empire It's the image of a man he wants to exalt He's a very persuasive leader And I think he's a very demonstrative lecturer It says in verse twelve of our chapter this evening And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him The old dragon was given them both power And causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast Whose deadly wood was he And he doeth great wonders So that he maketh fire come down from heaven And dwell on the earth in the sight of men I'm deceived at then That dwell on the earth by the means of those medicals which he imparted us I don't think he makes fire come down at all I think it's a deception And I'm sure we're coming to the spot now Where we're going to see a lot of deceptive demonstrations Why it has been rampant in America for years I think I told you once of one of these great healing meetings in America Don't for any sake go out and say that I said that God cannot heal I would be a fool to say that Of course I know that God can heal And I know more I know that God can heal miraculously It's like that And I know that God can heal medically too He can use medicine The book says that they that are sick have needed a physician And I know that he can heal perfectly And of course I know that he can do without healing Because there are people who are incurable diseases This book talks about it But you know in some of these great healing campaigns in America The picture big turns to New York And California is 3000 miles from New York you know It's exactly 3000 miles from here to New York Where it's the same from New York to California And these clever boys send a train down Yes, charter it Down to California and get a lot of the trumps and the bums as they call them down there Bring a load of them up in the train And at the healing meeting at night they give these men 20 or 30 pounds And some of them come in on a fetcher Carried in on a fetcher Some of them come in with a white stick you know Being laid up there And if you saw a man coming off that isle the night being laid up and brought up here And he stands here And somebody says Have you been blind from birth? Yes sir You've never seen the light of day? No sir And then he says hallelujah and amen and cobs a buzz a bit And then touches them And he throws the stick down and he's firmed up He can see now You know you would be bluffed You wouldn't know what was happening There's a rise from hell Let's look at this There's good statues And you need to watch all the demonstrations That's what I'm trying to say I'll tell you we're going to get a lot of demonstrations before long And they're not right you know You just need to be very careful Oh I saw God's healing you know I led a lady to the Lord once She was a sister in the Royal there Number 21 or 22 And I got a telegram from her To go to Montgomery House to see her You know when I knew she was in Montgomery House I knew she was in trouble Being a sister she was in a little cubicle of her own I went through the door she said Do you know why I'm here? Yes I do I said and so do you I said where is it? She says it's under my breast Opened her breast and lifted her breast She says you're married look at that It was a lump as big as an egg It was cancer it was a secondary from cancer It was somewhere in her lung but it's thrown out of secondary And there's no surgeon in this world Would put a knife on a woman with a secondary She knows right well she's finished She said to me I'm finished And Mr. Monmouth if it was you what would you do? He says it's easy talking when you're standing where I am dear But I feel it might come my turn one day and if it did I would always believe that death Would be my last act of faith down here And by the grace of God I'll make it as good a woman as I can I may have to stand over that yet Which somehow the way I said it to her You know she shifts it up in the bed You know all down under the dumps and no wonder She says this is my last act of faith And he says that's how I see it Well by the grace of God I will make it the best And you know she brightened up And we talked together and prayed together and I went home And three or four days later she sent me a telegram In fact it came on the phone It called as quick as it could I thought she was dying And then she's sitting on the edge of the bed She says it's gone I says what's gone? She says look at that It's away you know Look there She says where did that go? She says in the middle of the night He says were you praying? She says I wasn't praying She says I was dying Look there She says I sent for a doctor this morning He sent over to the royal for the old surgeon He came over and looked at her and said dear God has been at work Oh make no mistakes about it I believe that God can heal Well I also believe you know that the devil can bless you I believe both things And we're going to have to face A lot of what is called lying wonders You know that the devil can bless you I believe both things And we're going to have to face A lot of what is called lying wonders Terrible things you know Lying wonders Medicals that are not right The word medicals are there But it's deceptive medicals I don't believe that the fire was right I think it was a deception And it says here Verse 15 He hath power to give life unto the image of the beast That the image of the beast should both speak And cause that as many as would not worship the image of the first beast to be killed I don't believe he gave the image any life of course I think the whole thing is deception In fact I think it's all part of that great delusion My the death and resurrection of the boy last week was only delusion Ah well a fire and a life is a bit more delusion I'm sure that all these demonstrations So called medicals are only to deceive the people And so you can see this deceptive lamb This persuasive leader This demonstrative lecturer I want you to see this conscriptive leader Because he works hard And he calls it all That's the great wee word you know He calls it all What should both small and great Both rich and poor Free in bond To receive a mark in the right hand or in the forehead You know this man is going to wedge Business and religion together I know that our Mr Heath Seems to be awake damn night just to Get the common market going I know it's all business with him It's all economic as far as he's concerned It's the European economic community that he dreams about But before it's there much longer There's not only going to be an economic community There's going to be a religious community We're getting together over here now I was going to say that Santa Claus over last week But that wouldn't be nice would it If things happen inside me I can't help it I'm sure the Lord will forgive me You know somebody said Mr Heath There are three things about him He's the market man He's the music man He's the marine man Yes and you both every Christmas Of course Wilson thinks he's the mad man And when I gaze at him I know He's not the marine man And as sure as the next election comes He'll be the middle man Well you know This labourer is going to unite He's going to wedge religion and business together And mind you no class will be spared Because of all both small and great Rich and poor Free and bond There's nobody going to get out of it You'll notice that because of all To receive a mark in the right hand or in the forehead You know some people Will wear their blouse for me proudly Well for some of the pagan cops Do things on their foreheads all the time Just to let you see what they're at Because for some the boys will have to bow to it And not be just so wholeheartedly in it But they'll take it on their hand just the same Some will be in their foreheads Some will have it on their hands And you'll find this out That because of all To receive a mark in the right hand or in the forehead That no man might buy or sell You see he's wedding religion and business together Says he that hath the mark Or the name of the beast Or the number of his name Here is wisdom Let him that hath understanding count The number of the beast For it is the number of a man If you're looking at that as carefully as I hope you are You'll notice this three times At the end of verse seventeen The number of his name Then in verse eighteen The number of the beast Then again the number of a man Did you get that? You know the number is six, six, six Of course you know that Now I said to you once upon a time Not very long ago, just a few weeks ago That you need to be careful with numbers You know you can almost do anything with numbers Anything at all And I've seen some of the craziest ideas Worked out on six, six, six You know during the war when Hitler was Really taking everything by storm One of the prophetic lecturers in America He worked a thing out and I'll show you He worked it out like this He took the ABCs, the alphabets And he made A represent one hundred And he made B one hundred and one And he made C one hundred and two Made B one hundred and three And then he went on through the whole letters And he went up them one by one A hundred and four, a hundred and five A hundred and six and right on through the alphabet Now if you take the alphabet when you go home tonight And put down A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J and so on Right down to the end And you put the numbers up like that Now if you took the word Hitler You would find the H would be one hundred and seven You would find I would be a hundred and eight That follows H You would find the T would be a hundred and nineteen You would find the L would be a hundred and eleven You would find the E would be back at a hundred and four You would find that R would be a hundred and seventeen And if you add them up it's six, six, six Just done like that Of course that's the greatest lot of bologna anybody ever worked with I mean if he's alive now he must know how big a fool he was Hitler wasn't the antichrist Do you see what you could do with it? If we were in the middle of that war and Hitler was going about And I did this tonight it might really stir you See a lot of nonsense that's what it would be Just don't you go running to everything you know that everybody works out You can take the Roman figures and you can work out Nero Six, six, six You can take the Latin figures and you can work out the Pope Six, six, six I'm going to say something but then I'll I can't ask the Lord to forgive me twice in the one night Now this number you know It's the number of his name I want you to get that, the number of his name And it's the number of beasts And it's the number of a man That's why I'm sure that the first beast is a man I don't know how they get out of it It's the number of a man I honestly believe this That only when this day dawns Only when the church is gone Only when the tribulation is at its height Only when the Antichrist is trotting through the land Demon possessed Will the saints or the remnant in that day know exactly what this means I'm sure they'll know then You know we always want to know far too much But I'm sure we'll know then the way that God wants us to know But I believe it's here to make us think Of course it's faith, faith, faith And the number is mentioned three times The number of his name The number of the beast The number of a man I don't want you to swallow this just too quickly But I'll tell you what I think And I'll tell you this You can buy all the books in the world And all the commentaries And you won't see it in one of them You see this is the number of his name You know six is just short of seven Seven we all believe of course is the perfect number Well I believe that he will want his name to be above everything There'll just be one ahead of him Just be one ahead of him The Lord Jesus names above every name I think when it says not only the number of the name I think when it says the number of the beast We were looking last week at the mouth of this beast And it's the same mouth that is in the king The king of fierce countenance and dandle And I think that this man will not only want his name to be above every name But he'll want to be king of kings In fact he'll have ten kings under him But there's one that'll be above him There's one who is really the king of kings And I think when it says the number of his name He may want to have his name above every name When it says the number of the beast he may want to be king of kings When it says the number of a man I think he'd want to be the God man Because he's going to sit in the temple showing himself that he is God There is only one who is the God man I believe each six is just falling short of perfection I think he's going to find out and the whole world is going to find out how far short he comes The Lord Jesus will have the preeminence in all things His name is above every name, he's the king of kings And bless God he's both God and man Read chapter for next week It's the Lamb on Mount Zion And the 144,000 are there with him We're singing together 676 please, it's a short hymn, we'll sing it all 676 get on the sword and armour Go raise the banner high The captain of salvation to thee is Ebenezer 676 The Lord part us in thy fear And with thy blessing for thy holy name's sake Amen