This sermon emphasizes the danger of false teachers who disguise themselves as sheep but lead people astray, focusing on the importance of discerning true from false teachings. It highlights the need to be vigilant, discerning, and anchored in the truth of God's Word to avoid deception and destruction. The message calls for a deep examination of the fruits produced by teachings and urges listeners to seek the truth that leads to salvation and transformation.

Here's a message that will make false teachers wiggle in their seats, and those of us who are not false converts will be excited about this type of message. But it's been something I've wanted to talk about for some time, and where we're at in Matthew we find ourselves in that actual passage where Jesus is talking about wolves don't advertise, is the title of this message. And you realize that, right? Wolves do not advertise. A wolf is not going to come and say, hey, look at who I'm a wolf. He appears to be a sheep. That's the whole point of the text where we're at. So if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. If you weren't here last week, go online, get last week's message. We're hearing from a lot of people, mainly in the United States, of that message really changing and transforming them, and it was on the narrow way is the only way. Why is the narrow way the only way? It's the narrow way is the only way because it gets in the way. So look at next week's message. It's online already. It's been uploaded. Matthew 7 verse 15. Now remember last week we ended at verse 14. Jesus said the road is narrow. Be very careful. The road is narrow that leads to eternal life, and broad is the way to destruction. Okay, that's the setting. The narrow road to life is very narrow. When you say that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life, that's very narrow. Yep, unapologetically narrow. I'm not going to apologize about it. Jesus said it, and God's truth confirms it. So that's the narrow way. And then what does He do? He goes right into this next verse. Because of that, beware of false prophets. Why, Jesus? Because false prophets will lead you down the broad road that leads to destruction. True proclaimers of God's truth will point you towards the narrow truth. So Jesus is saying, beware. Anytime Jesus tells us to beware, guess what? Beware. Be very, very aware. If Jesus Christ is going to say, listen guys, beware. It's time to sit up, turn off our cell phones, and look at the Word of God. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous. Ravenous. Either way I'm going to pronounce that. I'm not sure. Just on to me. I might have pronounced it wrong at the first service. Let's just say they are wolves inside. I'm just a vessel. You all know I barely graduated high school. You will know them by their fruits. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Of course not. Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. I knew this was going to be tough after first service. Let's just pick up verse 19. Every tree, this is what Jesus is getting to. I don't know why I just didn't say this in verse 19. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them. A wolf or a false teacher is not going to be wearing red, holding a pitchfork. She's going to come in subtly and bring destructive heresy, bring destructive teaching to draw people away from the narrow way. That's the whole point of a false teacher. So the first thing we can glean from this is point one, beware. Be on alert. Be discerning. Jesus says, beware. Christians should be the most discerning people on the planet. It doesn't mean we walk around and put everything under this microscope, every single thing, and we become a judgmental Pharisee, but it does mean that we become very discerning of the culture, very discerning of the church, very discerning of what we view, who we associate with, what we read. We should be discerning. Discerning the times because the times are evil. We live in some very evil times right now, and I was pulling off some sermon illustrations from the news, and I swore I'd never do that again. There's so much depressing things going on in the news. Another school shooting. Mom kills her two daughters and takes her own life. We are living in some very, very difficult times. We're called to be discerning people. So it begs the question, how do we discern? Do you realize if you're not in the Word, the Word will not be in you? How do you know what I'm saying tonight is true? You're going to take my word for it? No, don't take my word for it. We're going to be revisiting Scripture. We're going to be looking to Scripture. Not just Scriptures. You can have the Bible say anything you want if you just pull out certain Scriptures, but how do you know? Christians, more than anybody else, should be devouring the Word of God, looking to the Word of God. That's the anchor. That's what holds everything together. That's how you can tell a false teacher from a genuine teacher. You look at what they're saying. So he's saying, don't look at how they're dressed, because he's going to look just like me. You've got to see what the words that are coming out of his mouth. What is the fruit that is being produced? That's the only way you can tell, is to line it up. Wolves Don't Advertise is the name of the sermon, and there are seven traits of false teachers. Now I need to let you know up front, the seven traits of false teachers that I'm going to get to at the end, I borrowed that from the Gospel Coalition. On their website, they've got this article titled, Seven Traits of False Teachers. I came across it and I said, this is perfect. This is exactly what we're trying to say tonight. So they get all the credit. They wrote it, but that's not until towards the end of the sermon. So I want to make that point clear. I think the link is in your bulletin, in the actual article that they wrote, where you can look at it a little bit more. So the context, as we know, the context is Matthew, Jesus is saying, enter by the narrow gate, because broad is the way to destruction. So you better be careful who you're listening to. Who is guiding you? Who's influencing you? Do you realize that all of us are guided or directed by somebody? You think I live in a bubble, and don't read or listen to anything all week, and then just show up here? Who's influencing me? Hollywood or the Holy Spirit? Desperate Housewives or my wife? Who's influencing me? American Idol or God's Word where it says, submit to yourself, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and in due time He will exalt you. Do not exalt yourself. Who's influencing you? You know who I listen to? A lot of you guys listen to the same people. James MacDonald, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Philip DeCourcy, David Jeremiah down in San Diego. These are the people investing into my life. If I want to get real hardcore, I put Paul Washer on. You probably won't know who that is. You can Google him. And I always tell people, you think I'm hardcore? Go Google Paul Washer. But he's calling the church back to the purity of the gospel. So be very careful, because you are being influenced one way or the other. So am I. What we open ourselves up to, what do we allow into our minds? That's why when I talk to young adults a lot, I go back to this point. What you're reading, Facebook, Twitter, all your friends, what you're reading, what you're absorbing, your media, input, it's not just input, it's influence. We think, I can hold my own, I can just hold this ground. No you can't. I can't either. We were designed, whatever we open ourselves up to, we allow that to influence us. That's why a lot of modern day entertainment, what people are enjoying isn't just enjoyment, it's influence. It's influencing the culture. It's reflecting the culture, but it's also influencing the culture. So we have to be careful in this area of who is leading us. So number one, beware, be on alert, discern. How do you discern? You discern them by the truth. You discern them by what is being said. So the next thing we can pull out of this is they look like sheep, but they act like wolves. They look like sheep. So how are we going to these guys on TV or in the radio or me or anybody else, how are you going to know? Think about that. Isn't that a little disheartening? Well, the good news is it doesn't have to be. You just line everything up with truth. You say, Shane, I don't know what the truth is. Exactly. That's the thrust of my message. You better live in the Word of God in order to be able to discern. Because if not, you're going to be tossed to and fro. The Bible says you're tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men. Why? Because I'm not anchored in the truth. See, when truth is my anchor, I can drift off course a little bit, but what's blowing me back? The anchor. Everything's anchored to the truth. It's pulling me back. If there's no anchor, people are being tossed to and fro. That's why it's Jesus Christ one day and this person the next. That's why I'll try this, but now I switch to this. And now I'm over here. Why? There's no anchor. There's no grounding. And false teachers love that. They jump on that. Here's what they do. They subtly challenge the inerrancy and the authority of Scripture. They subtly come in and challenge it. They're not going to come out and say, hey, guys, I'm challenging this. They're going to come in and subtly challenge it. And they add to salvation. It's not in Christ alone. Well, we won't come out and say it, but unless you belong to our society, it's Jesus plus our society. Ask a Mormon if you can be saved outside the Mormon church. Yeah, I'm going to step on toes tonight. No apologies. You want to know why? What does this say? Restoring centrality to Jesus' words. Not to Joseph Smith, not to Brigham Young, not to the Jehovah Witness, not to the false teachers. The whole point of the pulpit is to restore centrality to the words of Christ. That is the only name that saves. That's the only name that heals. It's okay to step on toes because they're presenting false doctrine. And I'm tired of wimpy pastors who don't want to say anything because they want their name recognition. They want the big church. They don't want to call sin, sin. They don't want to call false teachers, false teachers. Now, we don't come into this looking forward to it. I actually don't want to give this message. I'm not looking forward to it. But the text finds us in Matthew 7, chapter 7, verse 15. And if you look at the totality of Scripture and you go through expositionally, you've got to confront it. And you have to remember when these teachers come out and they remove the deity of Christ, I have a biblical obligation to bring the deity of Christ back into it. You try preaching like this an hour ago and doing it again. Lord, fill me with Your Spirit. I cannot do this. It's all about You. And the hard part is after this, we have to pick what service we're going to put on the website. It's like, Lord, You know. This topic is burning in my stomach because I see so many people being led astray by false doctrine. They're walking up and down my street holding their little kids' hands. And those kids are on their way to hell. Do you realize that? It's okay to get a little passionate about that. When they come to your door and they say, I'm Jehovah's Witness, you say, no, I'm Jehovah's Witness. You're a false witness. And here's why. Because I love you enough to say something. Don't worry, I'll get to other cults too in a minute. Cult, heresy, listen, those words are just words that the church uses to identify false doctrine. Heresy, look it up. Heretical. A self-willed opinion that opposes the truth. Heresy. That fits the definition. So when we come out against people, like I've warned before, do not read Rob Bell. Do not let him influence you. Why? Because he says there's no hell, that we're all going to end up in heaven, gay marriage is okay, we should embrace it, and you guys are just rigid, narrow-minded. Well, listen, you come out and you say that stuff, I've got to come out and counteract it. So see, people get upset at me for saying something, why don't you get upset at him for bringing out false doctrine? He's the one you should be upset at. He comes up here as if God isn't going to care, God's going to wink, he's not going to talk about sin, he's not going to talk about judgment or the righteousness to come. Well, then what was Paul's problem in front of Felix? Felix told Paul, get out of here. Why? Because I'm convicted. You're talking about sin and righteousness and the holiness of God. And when they come against those things and we bring them back, now I'm the bad guy. He's just a mean spirit. No, I want Christian unity. But remember, biblical unity, Christian unity is unity with the Spirit, unity with the Son, and unity with the Father, not unity with men. So I will be divided with men as long as I'm united with the Father. Do you realize that? Opposing false teachers gets people upset. I'm not going to go through the list because some people on TV, I don't really know. I don't know, and I'm not in a position to, yeah, they are, unless I talk to them, like Rob Bell and Brian McLaren, Doug Padgett, Tony Jones, all these guys that were part of the emergent church movement, and I've read their biographies, I've read their words, and I say, that's not a good direction to be going. These guys are pulling young adults away from Christ. That's not good. The book I wrote before this one, Answers for a Confused Church, deals with this whole movement because of that. Listen, if they're saying something, they'll find a big publisher, put out hundreds of thousands of copies, but we can't come out and counteract it? Oh, the day that the silent church is over, absolutely, because God's Spirit is helping, willing that none should perish, that all should come to salvation, but the false teachers are leading them astray. It's time for the voice of truth to come on the scene and say, here is truth, come back to truth. Truth will save, truth will transform, truth will heal, truth will deliver you. That's how powerful truth is. And that's why they want to neglect it, or that's why they want to fight it, or that's why they want to cover it up. And somebody actually came up after the first service and said, it's such and such a false teacher, and of course you all know if I say his name, you know what, honestly, I don't know. I don't know because I'd have to talk to them, I'm not in a position to say, but what I do realize is I wouldn't want to be on that fringe where people are questioning it. He might not be a false teacher, but why is he giving people the impression that he is? Well, let's find out why. Jesus says why. They bring in subtly, they challenge the Scripture, they bring in subtle changes and challenging. And here's what I've noticed, just in my time of ministry, as you know, speaking a lot before this church for about a decade, I've traveled and I've spoken and we planted this church. So maybe in 13 years, talking to a lot of different backgrounds, a lot of different people, lukewarm, not saved, you know, everything. A lot of it boils down to me, what I noticed in false teachers, they usually don't want to preach, they want to have a conversation. You'll hear that a lot in a lot of the terminology with the young and upcoming church and younger adults is, let's just be missional. Let's not preach, let's just sit down and have a conversation. So we can discuss things. So you can't come out and say, thus saith the Lord by the authority of Scripture. You have to sit down and have a discussion, kumbaya, let's all get along. What do you think? What do you think? What do you think? Preaching is not asking for the opinions of men, it's proclaiming the counsel of God. So they always want to have a conversation. Let's just talk, and conversations are good, right? Absolutely. But they want to have a conversation, here's the next point, and then they'll start to ask, have you ever considered? Have you ever considered? Like in Rob Bell, one of his books, he talks about, I think, Velvet Elvis, that Christianity is like a trampoline. Theoretically, could we move the spring of the virgin birth and keep springing? Yeah, I guess we could. That's a good point, Rob. Have you ever considered that? See? Folks, you can't just The gospel is not a trampoline. Remove the virgin birth, and you remove the deity of Christ. He was not begot of man or woman. The Holy Spirit went into Mary and formed Christ. Not the bloodline of man, not the bloodline of woman, but the Holy Spirit. Yeah, the virgin birth is pretty important. I don't care if you can pull out a spring and keep jumping on the trampoline, that is irrelevant. But see how they bring that? Have we considered? Have we considered? He's not going to come out and say, I've got a book, you know, this, that, and that, we'll take out the deity of Christ, we'll take away this. He's not going to do that. They're bringing subtle hints and subtleties, and that's how it works. Or, of course, this one. Most false teachers, there are exceptions, they will avoid difficult truths. You won't hear them talking about sin and repentance and judgment and holiness. Why? Because they're drawing men to themselves. See, I could fill this room if I told everybody what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear. I would lose most of you, I know, I understand. But we could open three services and just advertise, the church is just going to tell you what you want to hear. And people come and they think they're going to church. So they'll avoid difficult truths. Oh, I'm not going to talk about the difficult truths. Why? Christ did. Christ died for the very thing you're not going to mention. Christ died on the cross for sin, took the wrath and indignation of God at that point in history. I'm not going to mention that, though. It might upset some people. Yeah, absolutely, the gospel's offensive, get over it. Jesus Christ himself said, the message of redemption will be offensive, the world will hate you. So if the world loves some of these guys, what's the disconnection here? Be careful. Be very careful. But also another thing a false teacher will do is they'll pound this down your throat and they'll control and they'll manipulate with the word of God. I'm your spiritual authority. You come to me. All these things, you have to sit and they become almost your god, your guru. All these things, they cram it down your throat and you just have to submit to it or else you're not a Christian. So they just use this and they beat you up with it. There's polar opposites there. Of course, one of the things is money. It's going to be a mark of their ministry, for sure. They're in it for greedy gain. It's going to be about book sales, probably. Do you realize that the bigger your audience, the more your offering is? You know that, right? I'm not surprising anybody. Be careful because money is their end. That's their focus. One last focus is follow me, not follow him. Follow me. No, follow him. John the Baptist said, I must decrease but he must increase. So a false prophet will say, Jesus must decrease and I must increase. The reason I must increase is so now I can promote Jesus. See, it's all about me, but Jesus is coming too. It's all about me, but Jesus is coming too. Can he come too? If I don't keep him here, I'm not going to lull thousands and millions of Christians to sleep. I have to keep him here. I've got to keep Jesus here as my backup plan. See, I have Jesus here. But it's all about them and the money and building their ministry. Now, of course, you've got to be careful because false teachers, not everybody's a false teacher. People become prideful and they get the lust of money and power and things take over and they get sidetracked and sometimes God brings them back. But that's one of the characteristics with them. So with that said, let's talk about this point. Wolves don't advertise. Wolves don't advertise. And if you need the complete sermon notes, we have them online now and on our website under complete sermon notes. It's kind of catchy, but it works. Complete sermon notes, you can see everything I'm looking at. I told the first servant, it's ironic, I used to not have any sermon notes because I would memorize my outline and then I'd put clothes on it, like a skeleton put clothes on when I'm speaking. But now I only have six days to prepare. Back then I would have a month or two. So it's much different now. I've got to help keep everything, the train of thought, going in the right direction. So those are available online. But with that said, let's go to this point I've been wanting to get to. Jesus says you must be fruit inspectors. You must be fruit inspectors. See, and this is interesting because a lot of times when we want to be fruit inspectors, people say, oh, you're just being judgmental. Oh, I want to be a fruit inspector. No, you can't come out against that guy. What's wrong with you? You're quenching greed in the spirit of God. No, I'm called to be a fruit inspector. No, you're not. You can't say anything. And they'll get upset at you if you start to call things in question. Hey, I'm not sure if we should be doing that. And we're called to be fruit inspectors. However, though, the other side of that is somebody thinks they've been given the God-given gift of criticism and they're a fruit inspector for everybody and they have an apologetics ministry and they like to tell off everybody, pick apart every type of ministry. That's not good either. Jesus is just saying, listen, little grapes aren't going to grow on a weed and weeds aren't going to be found on a grape bush there. You're going to find the fruit of what that person is about will come to pass. So with that said, I'm pulling again from the Gospel Coalition article. What he did is he compared the authentic Christian with the counterfeit or he compared the authentic teacher with the counterfeit teacher based on 1 Peter. It ties in perfectly. The first point is this. There is a different source. Where does their message come from? You have two people up here, false teacher, real teacher. Where does their message come from? Peter says, we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says the false teachers exploit you with stories that they made up. So the true teacher sources everything what he gets from the Bible. The false teacher relies on his own creativity and he makes up his own message a lot of times. It's not necessarily from the Bible. Maybe a little verse here and there, but it's a message he brings up. Right when I was writing this I said, hello, Book of Mormon. Book of Mormon right there. I'm not trying to offend, I'm not trying to upset, but this is a bunch of fables that you can't find the cities, you can't find the kingdoms, you can't find any spears or any shovels or anything. You can't find anything. You can't find the gold tablets, the special glasses to view them. You can't find any of that. Nothing. Nothing in there lines up with scripture. So you're left with this dilemma. You can get mad at me if you want, but you either believe Jesus Christ or you believe Joseph Smith. They cannot both be right. So when they come out and they say, here's a false gospel, I have to come and say no, here's a true gospel, and I have to show you the difference. Remember I told you a while back this summer I caught four Mormon missionaries up on the aqueduct for a Bible study. They didn't know what they were in for when I started talking to them. And they were tongue-tied, they didn't know, and they kept going, no, but look, here's the Book of Mormon. I don't want to see the Book of Mormon. I want to see the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and the living word of God. Oh, that's supplementary, this is primary. You can't read this and read that and see, what? The Bible, Jesus is the son of God. Book of Mormon. He's a brother of Lucifer. What's the Bible say? God is holy and lifted up. The angels cry, holy, holy is our God. The whole temple shook in his presence as the angels cried, holy, holy is our God. What does this book say? God was once like us and we will be like God. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. I told those kids that. I said, you're blaspheming God. See, they can't both be right. What do you do with Jesus? Jesus, whose wife will she be? Oh, there's no marriage in heaven. Have you not read the scriptures? Book of Mormon. You'll be married in heaven, you'll have celestial sex, and raise spirit children. Well, that might sound better, I think, to some of you, but, you know, I walked myself into that one, didn't I? But you see, these aren't just little errors. I went to our paper and I said, here's my article, I'm writing about the little bulletin thing you have in your bulletin. I have a full article sent to the paper saying, oh, we're not going to print that, Shane. You're attacking other Christians. Other Christians? Last time I checked, Christians were followers of Christ. The way. El paseo in Spanish. The way. The followers of the way. And when groups, I don't like it, I would just love to get along with these groups, but when they're leading millions of people astray, their little kids are walking with them up and down. Can I tell you about a false doctrine? Can I tell you about a false doctrine? And we have none of us going to doors and saying, can I tell you about a true doctrine? We should be ashamed of ourselves. One of the reasons why I got those postcards printed up, my wife will tell you, is I'm going to mail them to every house I see them going to. That's a true gospel. And going down the line, Jehovah Witness. John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jehovah Witness book. Watchtower. Well, let's define that for you. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was a God. And they'll remove the deity of Christ. You following this? This is important. They will remove the deity of Christ. The very foundation of Christianity is being removed. Charles Taz Russell started this religion, had the Bible re-edited, re-done by people who don't even know Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic. They just put a Bible together that would fit their theology. Dangerous. So what do we do? Be silent? Shane, you're being mean-spirited. No, I'm not. It's the love of Christ that compels me to share the truth. Two of those guys up on the aqueduct left there really thinking, asking some hard questions after about an hour of drilling them. You're going to be like God? God was once like us? How do you worship a God like that? So salvation is only in the Mormon church? What do you do with the Bible? It says repent and believe. Whoever confesses Christ will be saved. What do you do with all the scriptures? No, no, no, you don't understand. I don't want to see that book, I want to see the book. And there's always all the times I get emails sometimes from Roman Catholics when I talk about the history of Rome and the papacy and the buying of that papacy, the buying of the authority, the bringing of indulgence, of going to priest as a mediator and Mary worship as co-redeemer. The last time I checked, Mary did not die on the cross. I don't go to priest, I go to Christ. Hebrews says, I have a high priest who has been tempted and tested in all points like me, but he was without sin. He's my high priest. The papacy is not over scripture, scripture is over the papacy. So the church was fine. First, second century, third century. Now they begin to buy power. It was just the Catholic church. They bought power. Here's a million dollars, let me have this spiritual authority. And then they married the church with the state, hence the word Roman Catholic church. It became a position of power and authority. Now they come out with these different dictates that go against scripture. And they bring in all the stuff consubstantiation, transubstantiation, that the communion actually becomes a literal body and blood of Christ. Let's just stay to this, let's just stay to this. Can we? No we can't. False teachers take you directly this way. Shane, are you saying that some popes might not have even been saved? Absolutely. They burned Christians. If I would have said what I'm saying now 600 years ago, heretic, take him out, let the flames raise that guy up into the sky, pour gasoline all over him. Didn't have gasoline back then, but you know, oil. Listen, this is truth and it hurts. Have you heard names? John Whitecliffe, Hus, William Tyndale, have you heard them? They wrote the Bible. Two of those men were killed by the church for proclaiming the truth. They told Martin Luther, recant all your works or you'll face possible execution. He told the council, here I stand, I can do no other. I stand on the word of God alone and spark the flames of the reformation. We don't worship these guys, they have their faults. I can pick them apart, they can pick me apart. But when are we going to wake up church and say, hey, these okay, listen, they killed Christians, they burned them at the stake because they were challenging the papacy, they were challenging the pope's authority. They're saying, listen, you don't put a coin in the coffin for spring and somebody from purgatory will, you know, all these sayings that they have, you give, give money, you can spring your relatives out of purgatory. That's a false system of works. And you're mad at me? They don't want people to read their Bible. So everything is in the Latin, the Latin Vulgate. They're going to read Latin so you don't know the Bible, you have to go, no, you read your Bible. Actually, I said, would you please read your Bible? How often do I promote, read your Bible? Because this isn't about Shane Eidelman, this is about Jesus Christ. We glorify him, we magnify him, that's the only reason I can preach like this is because he radically changed my life and it's the Spirit of God crying out, Father, preaching the truth. Go to 30 Mormon tabernacles tomorrow and I doubt they'll even get this loud. Just turn to this. Why? Because there's no spiritual authority in them. There's not. There's no fruit, there's nothing. I'm not saying it means spirit, I'm not saying with arrogance. I'm saying, guys, wake up. Genuine, true, historical, Biblical Christianity must line up with Scripture. Christ is the only way, the only truth, the only life. There's no other way. You don't have to belong to a church, you don't have to belong to a society. You don't have to get baptized, you don't have to do this. You just have to repent and believe in the only name that saves. So back to the question. What are they doing? The first point, different sources. John, I'm going to let you choose what video to put on since you're both services. Number two, different message. They promote a different message. What is the substance of the message? What is the substance of the message? False teacher or real teacher? What is the substance? The true teacher, for the true teacher, Jesus Christ is central. We have everything we need for life and godliness in Him. But the false teacher, Jesus is at the margins. Remember what I told you earlier? Jesus is back here. We got Him. He's good. We got Jesus. We have to have Jesus or we'll be thrown out of the church. If we don't have Jesus, TBN will not air my shows. Right? I mean, you can't just come out and blatantly say it. Am I seeing everybody on there wrong? Of course not. I don't have time to watch it. I don't know. I've seen some good stuff on there back in the past. Grey Glory, Way of the Master, Charles Stanley. There's wheat and tare. It's always going to be that way. But think about this. Is Jesus Christ central? When you have a false teacher or true teacher, is it all about Jesus Christ or is it all about them? Who is the true teacher? Notice the word secretly. It is rare for someone in church to openly deny Jesus. They wouldn't be a wolf if they showed you who they were. That's the whole point. They subtly come in. They're not going to deny Him outright. Well, how do you detect a counterfeit? We've talked about that. Right? And the truth. But many of you know in Josh McDowell's book, Evidence Demands a Verdict, I believe it is, he talks about bank tellers. How do they check the original from a counterfeit? They sit and look at originals all day long. You want to see counterfeits? Nope. Nope. I want to see the originals. I want to study the originals. I must see the originals. So when a counterfeit comes along, I already know what the original looks like. And that is the problem. Many people are not in this. They're listening to people who say they are, but they're not themselves. So there's nothing to gauge that truth. And that's why I promote prayer all the time. If you're a spirit-filled believer in the Word of God and praying, you will not be led astray. Now that statement might get me some mean emails, but think about it. If you're a spirit-filled believer in the Word of God and praying to the one true and living God to guide you, to lead you, you cannot be led astray because you're anchored. That's the anchor. Your relationship with Christ grounded in truth from a praying heart filled with the Spirit of God. That's the anchor. The third point in the article from the Gospel Coalition. Different position. In what position will the message leave you? This is very important, you guys. Listen to this. The true Christian escapes the corruption in the world, but counterfeit Christians are slaves of depravity. So the true believer is escaping corruption while the counterfeit believer is mastered by it. So the false teacher is going to cater to that depravity. In other words, they're not going to talk about sin. They're not going to talk about hell. They're not going to talk about these things. The very things that Jesus died for, they're not going to mention. Why? Why aren't they going to mention that? I'll lose my audience. I want to tell you what you want to hear. So if my goal is to build my name, to build the ministry, to build my checkbook, to build, build, build, build, why would I want to say things that are going to upset people? Why? I'm not going to say anything. So that's what it is. There's a different position. And what position will it leave you? When a false teacher speaks, what position are you left in? When a true teacher speaks, what position are you left in? Are you turning from sin or running to it? Because that's what happens. Many people preach. They'll preach certain things, right? In church, they'll preach this and they'll preach that. And people, if they're not turning from their sin, they're not preaching. They're telling people what they want to hear. Right? There's people that come into church all the time, they'll turn on TV, they'll continue in their porn habit, they'll continue in their abuse or sexual abuse, they'll continue hitting their spouse, they'll continue to have angry outbursts, they'll continue in all this sin because they can click on the TV and somebody's confirmed the very lifestyle that they should be turning from. Right? And on this point, and I'm going to leave it here, I'm not going to go because I don't know, but many of you with Joel Steen, when he goes on Larry King Live and he says, Larry, I'm not going to talk about sin. I'm not going to talk about hell. I'm not going to talk about homosexual marriage. I don't talk about any of those things. What? I understand your calling's more motivational. Okay, got it. But you're not going to mention anything that Christ died for? When Christ said, go and preach repentance, you're not going to mention repentance? When Christ says that unless you turn from your sin, you will all likewise perish, you're not going to say that? I'm confused and I'm perplexed, to be quite honest with you. I'm left at, like, wow, I must have really missed it on this one. I could see somebody saying, that's not the thrust of my ministry. I'm more of an encourager and a helper. I can see that, but to say from the pulpit I never talk about controversial issues? Well, that would discard everybody in the whole Bible that wrote a book in the Bible. Everybody. See, don't get mad at me, get mad at him. You should say, yes, Larry, there is sin, there's a judgment to come, unless you repent and believe on the only name that saves, you will all likewise perish. I say that in love. Well, it's not that funny. That's what he should do. Homosexual marriage, oh, Larry can't say anything. Why not just say, you know what, we love those struggling with homosexuality, we love every sinner, Larry. We do, we love them all. But yeah, the Bible says unless they turn from that lifestyle, they will perish. See, it makes you wonder, who's your authority? The Bible, I have a biblical mandate to preach the whole counsel of God. You want a scripture reference? Yeah, Timothy, Paul told Timothy, Timothy, preach the whole counsel of God. Preach the word of God, Timothy. Be ready in and out of season, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. They will look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. So Timothy, you preach the truth, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and warning. Timothy, bring the people the totality of Scripture so they can see the whole counsel of God. So I don't understand these guys. I just don't under, I don't know how you can say that. Unless you're worried about book sales and attendance. I don't know. It just doesn't make sense. So again, I'm not coming out and saying this person's, I don't know, I'd have to talk with them and I don't know, I don't follow their ministry. But when I hear that clip, I'm like, wow, I guess I should fire myself. Well, Larry, I actually talk about all those things, so I don't know what the difference is. Anyway, I don't want to get off on a rabbit trail. I already did the next point. I just want to show you, though, that true teachers usually help people escape the corruption, not confirm it. If somebody's living in a sinful lifestyle and I do nothing to help them, I'm confirming their sin. How is that a genuine teacher? Do you realize that Jesus upset entire cities? He sent people, he sent his disciples out saying, go, preach God is love. What did he tell them? Go, preach repentance. Just tell them about heaven only. No, Jesus said, be very worried, be very scared of him who can cast both your body and soul in hell. Do you guys ever read Jesus? That's what I want to ask these guys. Do you ever read what he said? The same Jesus who turned the other cheek is a lion of tribe of Judah. Remember John in Revelation who saw heaven open? Behold, I saw heaven open in a white horse, and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and no one knew his name except himself. That's Jesus Christ. And out of his mouth came a sword that he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and he himself will tread the winepress and fierceness and wrath of almighty God. That's Jesus Christ. This isn't some passive Luke, turn the other cheek, just love everything. The love of God compels me to share all of the truth. The lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world is also the lion of the tribe of Judah. A.W. Tozer said, that makes me love him because he's my savior, but it makes me fear him because he's my judge. Wow. We could end the sermon right there. Think about that. That's a very healthy balance. I love him because he saved me, but there's a judgment someday. Woe be to the man that doesn't warn and contend for the faith. That's all I would tell somebody like Joel. I'd say, Joel, wake up. Spend some time in prayer and fasting in the word of God. Pray that the spirit break you and humble you. I guarantee you'll come out of that prayer closet a different man. Preach the word of God. That's the word of God that saves. People listen millions and millions and they're never saved. They're never converted. They're built up. They're encouraged. Thank God for that. We all need some encouragement every now and then. Even me. Hello. You see the discouraging emails and stuff I get. You need a little encouragement. Thank God for my wife. I love encouragement. Actually, believe it or not, one of the feedbacks we hear the most at this church is, thank you. You've encouraged me so much. I'm like, wow. How is that possible? I thought I discouraged you. But see, that draws us closer to the heart of a father who said, sin has separated you from me. There's a penalty for that sin. The wages of sin is death. The Christ of cross is central to everything. Woe be the man who avoids the cross of Christ. That's where his blood was shed and that's the atonement for our souls. You're not going to talk about the very thing that Christ died for. Right here. It's a different character. What kind of people does the message produce? Think about that. A false teacher and somebody under a false teacher and somebody under a true teacher. What is the fruit that is produced? That's all you have to look at. I'll tell you, shocker, the people that are the most upset at me are carnal Christians. They get the most upset at me. It's people who name the name of Christ. Isn't that interesting? They love to grab a Mickey's Big Mouth and head to Las Vegas and watch all ungodly entertainment. We're calling these things into check. But they don't like these things because it shines the light in the darkness of their lives. The fifth thing, there's a different appeal. I'll hurry up and get through this. There's a different appeal. Why should you listen to the message? Here's the key. Why should you listen to the message? A true teacher appeals to Scripture. The true teacher appeals to Scripture. The false teacher makes a different appeal. They appeal to the lustful desires of man. In other words, he is catering to the sin and telling us what we want to hear in a nutshell. If people are not changing, are we challenging them? If people aren't changing, are we truly challenging them? And that's why I like this quote from William Steele. I think it's on your bulletin. Many, many people who for the first time come under the sound of Holy Ghost preaching are mortally offended because they have never been exposed to the white light of the Spirit. You know what he's saying there? I see this all the time when people ask me to speak at funerals. Most of the time it's unbelievers. And I bring a message like this. You can almost see their jaws drop and their eyes big. Whoa! What is this? What is this? They're morally offended. I'll go stand by that door. They'll find the two exits this way. They are offended. They'll tell the people, who's that guy? Why did you ask him to speak? It's not funny what happens to me. I'm going to go sit out there and you come up here. You take the bullets and the arrows. But it's sad because I'm giving them the words of life but they're morally offended. Why are they morally offended? Because they've never come under the light of the Gospel, penetrating their hearts. They've heard the guys on TV and the guys on whatever and nothing hurts them. But when they come in here it's like they can't hurry up to get out of here. When is he over? I'm a sinner. I'm on my way to hell and I don't know the real shepherd? Because a lot of times at funerals I start, Psalms 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down between green pastures. He restores my soul. And then I say, you know what? That only applies if he's your shepherd. So don't get all warm and cozy. That does not apply to you if he's not your shepherd. Well think about it. Think about it. That scripture You're going to have a hard choice, John. This scripture is read at thousands of funerals. People come in here, sinners that need Christ. They need to hear the message of redemption. And we say the Lord is your shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd. You shall never want. He will make you lie down between green pastures. He'll restore your soul. See you later. And you'll lead thousands and millions to hell. He's not their shepherd. That doesn't apply. Put it in context. The context is David knowing his true shepherd. You can't just read that and say it applies to you. Actually you should say, does it apply to you? Does it? Listen, I didn't come up here to play games. I know many of you I will not talk to again. Same with last week. This is it. This is my one time to preach the gospel to you. Christ is central. Everything else is meaningless. That's what this means. They are mortally offended when you hear the white light of the gospel. You think Larry King is going to put a sermon clip of this up there? He'll get letters from everybody from the ACLU to Planned Parenthood. To A&E probably and all the Duck Dynasty. They'll be bombarded. Who's this guy? He's offensive. Yeah, the message of the gospel is offensive. The message of the cross hurts. Oswald Chamber said the message of the gospel hurts and it offends us until there is nothing left to hurt and to offend. It breaks you down and you have to bow and submit to the cross. I give you everything Lord. I give you my life. Everything tonight. I am offended by everything and I need you. Yeah, it's offensive. Absolutely. And it's unapologetically offensive. See you can preach the truth with gentleness and love underscore it with grace and the power of the spirit will knock a man down knock a woman down and they'll have to fall into the power and presence of God. God's just looking for the empty vessel. He'll fill you. You realize that, right? You think I'm relying on my good teaching ability or my good exegetical ability, my good reading ability? Absolutely not because I have none of that. I should be laying in the curb over by grace resources probably homeless. Honestly. So I see what God does. I'll take that empty vessel and I'll make him mine and you will glorify me and you'll honor me all the days of your life. I don't know if I should say this or not. It's a funny story. Many of you know I left real estate a while back and people have always asked me how can you leave, you know you're on target to make two, three hundred thousand a year how could you just walk away from all that? Just pay my bills and let me preach. That's all I want. How can I not? He's put in my heart that word is in my heart like a burning fire. He'll take care of me. I leave here on such a spiritual high that that's reward enough. You couldn't write me a check that feels how you feel when you please God. That's what he's done in my life. There's different fruit. The true believer is effective and productive in his or her knowledge of Jesus Christ. The counterfeit is like a spring without water. There's no fruit. There's no fruit in your life. And I ask this first service, I'll ask it again. Are you a counterfeit? Listen, I don't say it in anger. I don't say it judgmentally because I've been a counterfeit for many years. I attended a Christian school. I was raised in a Christian home. I was a Christian if you ask me. I live in America, aren't I a Christian? American's a Christian nation. Well a nation can't be Christian, so let's stop there. So we walk around as counterfeits. Christ said, listen, I died so you can become an original. You don't have to live as a counterfeit. Stop it. If this message, if you're squirming in your seat in your hope that I hurry up, what do I often say? If you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. He sent me to offend. It's time to start offending the church. The Bible says that judgment's going to start in Hollywood. Judgment's going to start in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York. Where's judgment going to start? In the house of God. Judgment is going to start in the house of God. Why? Because you've been given the oracles of life. You must live it out. Our goal is not to preach the gospel. Our goal is to be spiritually worthy to spread it. A.W. Tozer said that many years ago. And it moves us right to the seventh point. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. By their fruits you will know them. There's a different end. Where does the message ultimately lead you? Think about how serious this is. Those little kids that I talked about walking up and down my street with dad and mom. They've got their big old Bible twice the size of mine. Just walking around with their kids. And I think where's that leading them? Therefore by their fruits you will know them. This is a message. At the end of this road is destruction. See this isn't oh Shane, you say this and they say this. There's some disagreeing. No. At the end of this road is destruction. I don't like that, you say. Guess what? I don't like it either. Do I wish advice that God's going to save everybody in the end? Even the devil. Oh man, that would be wonderful. But it doesn't. Actually I wouldn't want him saved. He needs to go spend eternity where there's outer darkness. And here's what happens. We cannot have two fathers. Either God is our father because we've repented and believed on the only name that saves. Or all God does is say go spend time with your father. See God doesn't throw anybody in hell. Hell is for the demonic influences, the demons, the angels of corruption and Satan. He's not willing. Any should perish. But when we say God I reject you and I embrace this God. Go spend eternity with him. It's our choice. It's our choice. I'm just shooting you straight and the reason you know is because you're mad at me. If I'm just talking about pie in the sky, none of this is, that's all baloney. Who's this guy? I think he is. Then why are you so upset? Why are you upset if this is false information? You're upset because it's true information. And the truth hurts, doesn't it? The truth hurts all of us. Jesus said depart from me. I never knew you. Jesus tells us there will be many who have been involved in ministry in his name and he will say depart from me. I don't know you. You want more on that verse? Check out last week's message. That's where I talked about we're going to either hear well done thou good and faithful servant or depart from me. I don't know you. Listen, if Jesus says beware, false teachers are going to lead you down the broad road. There's outer darkness. There's weeping. There's gnashing of teeth. Don't go there. Don't be cast there. The father doesn't want to send you there. Fear him. Fear him who can cast both your body and soul in hell. And he's working out. And we say no, no. None of that applies to me. Jesus is saying beware. Watch out for this broad road that leads to destruction. So the title as you know, wolves don't advertise. The title of the message, wolves don't advertise. But I want to leave you with this fact. God does. You catch that? Wolves dressed in sheep's clothing do not advertise. They come in sneakily. But God advertises. Do you know that he says, bring it on. Truth invites scrutiny. Anybody that wants to debate anything in life, bring it on because truth invites your scrutiny. When I come to a false teacher and say let me, I don't know when I told you guys this, probably a couple years ago now. But I was actually invited to a Mormon bishop's house. And he actually, he told me I had to leave his house. And I was sitting quietly on the couch. Yeah, but you know, you'd see this. Yeah, here's what this says. Everything I told you. We're going to be God. You heard Jesus. He was getting mad. Why are you getting mad? Truth invites scrutiny. Bring it on. Cults don't want to bring out the Bible. They want to bring out their resources. Why truth says bring it on. Agnostic, atheist, bring it on. The truth will not lie. The truth will not let you down. The truth transforms. The truth redeems mankind. Jesus said that God's word is truth. He said the truth will set you free. This invites scrutiny. The heavens cry out the glory of God. I'm reading a book right now about the universe. I have to keep reading each chapter again and again because it's too mind-boggling. I get a headache. They're seeing things that are a million or a billion light years away. Do you know how far light travels in a year? Well, times that by a billion. I can't even comprehend it. They're seeing galaxies. Galaxies like Earth. Millions of galaxies. Stars. Hundreds of thousands of times bigger than Earth. All this. All this. It's advertised. God says, look, the heavens declare the glory of my hand. There was a big bang. God said, bam, and it started and it's still going. There was. They're showing evidence for something that's saying the size of a pin needle could have started. Could have started the universe. Bam. And it's still. The universe is still expanding. They measure the gravitational pull. The heat. I don't know how they do any of this. The Hubble telescope. All these things they can see. All these stars and the layout and all these things. And that just all happened. And we're on a little tiny Earth you can't even see. And all these stars that are just hovering around the Milky Galaxy. All these things. And just right there. Oh, just the sun. Perfect. I mean, any scientist worth their salt would say creator. Creator. But the pride of the heart has deceived you. All false teachers are doing is telling us what our prideful, sinful hearts want to hear. And I truly believe that false teachers can be a judgment on the church. Or those who profess to be Christians. Hear me out. They're telling us what we want to hear. God says I gave them over to their debased and corrupted minds. Here you go. There's teachers who tell you what you want to hear. They're not going to save you. They're not going to help you. You're getting what you want. Basically. And that's what leads us to this point. God says call on me and you will be saved. Call on me and I will help. Call on me and I will heal you. He advertises it everywhere. Everywhere we go. Call on me. The name of the Lord. Call on the name of the Lord. It is the only name that saves. It's the only name that saves. Lord, I pray tonight that this message. I pray that you would open eyes, Lord, of people. I don't think there's too many people in this first service, Lord. But I know we all know friends and relatives and family members. Lord, would you open their eyes tonight? Lord, as we worship tonight, can we pray for them? Can we pray for our family members, Lord, that we know that have rejected truth. They've rejected you. Lord, during this time of worship, would you begin to set the hound of heaven loose on these friends and family members, Lord? We come against these false theologies. We come against these false doctrines. We come against these groups that take away the deity of Christ. Lord, restore the centrality of truth again. Lord, give us a passion and a hunger for truth. Lord, begin to change the hearts and change lives in these people. Lord, we're contending for family members that we know tonight, Lord, that are caught up in these religions, caught up in these false teachers. Lord, draw them back to you, Lord. Teach us to fast. Teach us to pray. Teach us to contend for these. We can all name names in our heads of people that need your truth. Lord, hear the prayers of your children tonight as we seek you and we honor you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.