As you know, we are in that section of the book of Revelation that deals with what's going on behind the scenes. And in between the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the actual events that are precipitated by the seventh trumpet, we have these chapters where John is shown important pieces of the puzzle. He is being given information about the characters that are going to be involved. So if we want to understand what's to come in the final bowl judgments, it's important that we have this preliminary understanding of what's going on behind the scenes. And today we're going to So if you turn in the book of Revelation, we're going to start with verse 11. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand and on their forehead. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for the number of that man and his number is 666. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for giving us your word, propositional truth we can count on. Our faith is tied to your word. We have our hopes anchored in the promises in your word. We have our confidence in what you have accomplished and has been revealed to us through your word. And Lord, we pray that by your spirit, you would speak to us, that you would give us practical guidance for our lives, even as we're contemplating things that will happen in the future. Lord, that we'd be able to walk in the light of what we are understanding through your word. Help us to apply our hearts to wisdom. And we pray if there's anyone here today or listening by internet that does not know you, that you, Lord, would show them who you are and what you have provided of a full salvation through the gift of your son, our Lord and savior. and that you would grant them repentance and cause them to see their need for Christ and to give their lives to him. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. So we are being given insight as to some of the key players in the book of Revelation. We saw that there was a woman who was clothed with the sun, speaking of Israel. We saw that there was the red dragon, and the red dragon speaks of Satan, who is the adversary. He is the fallen angel Lucifer. We learned that Satan is angry, and he's angry specifically because his access to the throne has been not just curtailed, but he has been cast out, so he no longer has access to the throne to even make accusation to the brethren in chapter 12. We see that he doesn't even have a slight audience with the king. and he knows that he has but a short time. So this is one of the reasons why there is such an expression of the wrath, the violence, and the destruction in the last part of the tribulation period. We learned about the male child, and the male child speaks of Christ. We learned that there are heavenly creations, that there are angels that are true to their first estate, such as Michael the archangel, Michael proven to be a faithful, a servant of the Lord, and ready for spiritual battle. And then there's the fallen angels that we've spoken about, followed Satan in his rebellion. We've learned about the offspring of the woman, those who are believers in Revelation chapter 12. And last week we were introduced to the beast that came out from the sea, the figure known as the Antichrist. And today we look at the beast that has come out of the earth, the false prophet. we see that the Antichrist, He wins people to himself through his personal abilities, his appeal, his charisma. And we see that the whole world follows him. Now there are so many problems in the world today, but you can see how many more problems there will be when we have these cataclysmic judgments that come upon the earth as described in the first six seals and the first six trumpet judgments. So, there's an acceleration of problems and judgments that are coming upon the earth and an intensification of demonic attacks. And so, here is a person who is raised up, who has particular intelligence and gifts full of knowledge, an unusual genius, having unbelievable insight, a magnetic personality, and he is a wonder to behold in his ability and his appeal. And so the world will flock to him and say, yes, yes, we need a leader. And we can even see today in the various countries around the world, how there's lawlessness that's pervading, and there's mob rule, and there's all kinds of chaos. And there's going to be the need for some law and order. There's going to be a need for some curtailing of all this chaos and bringing things together. And so this fellow will be the candidate that people will look to. And we learned that in the first part of his rule, he's going to absorb three nations, and then eventually he will control the 10 regions of the earth. And there will be a one world government, a one world leader, and there will be adversaries to the Antichrist. Who are they? They are the ones who are genuine believers in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And because of time, I didn't get to this last week, but remember, the last point was about the assurance of the saints and how important it is to know that there are several things. If you just, let's go back one verse to Revelation chapter 13, verse eight. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, that is the first beast, the Antichrist. It doesn't mean necessarily that they're going to be singing praise songs, but it means that their allegiance is going to be to this person, their devotion. Now, it's certainly fine to be supportive of your country. And there's a place for us to be good patriotic citizens. But what we see happening during the reign of the Antichrist is going to be much more than that. It's going to be people who are going to be absolutely loyal to what is coming out of the mouth of this person. And this person is a champion deceiver. Satan's greatest tool is deception, and he is using this person to deceive the whole world. What do we learn about Satan? He deceives the whole world. What do we know about the Antichrist? Is that he gets the loyalty of the whole world. You see how they work together. But the genuine believers, what do we know about them? We learn first of all in verse eight that they do not give their allegiance to the Antichrist. Notice what it says, all who dwell on the earth and that expression we have found before, what does it mean? non-believers, exactly. It's those who have no place in their hearts' affections for the things of God, the things of heaven, the truth of the gospel. These are those who dwell on the earth. It's a euphemism for those that are not believers. They will have their allegiance to the false leader, the Antichrist, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain. So secondly, we learn that these believers have their names written in the book of life. First thing we learn is that no true believer can give his or her first loyalty to anyone but God. This is why we learned even recently in China, as we heard from those who went there, is that just a few weeks ago it was ordered that the first commandment be taken down from all the churches. Why? Because the first commandment is that you will have no other gods before you. The law really hangs on the truth about who God is, is the one true God. And of course, in the communist government in China, they said there's not room for a competitor other than the state. The state, ultimate loyalty goes to the state. Well, true believers will always have their ultimate loyalty to the state and they will continue in that. That's how Matthew 24 gives the converse or the complimentary truth to this is that those who endure with loving loyalty to God, as the ultimate object of worship, shall be saved. You get it? So we know that their loyalty to God will endure to the end. Secondly, their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And notice that the Lamb's Book of Life names were written before the foundation of the world. Thirdly, we learn in verse nine that they are not just those who listen to the word, but they are those who heed the word. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. And we spoke about that right from the beginning. Already we've encountered this expression seven times in the book of Revelation. He who has an ear, let him hear. But what's the rest of the phrase? what the spirit is saying to the churches. Isn't it interesting that that part of the phrase is not found here? It's another one of the clues that show that the church has been raptured before this particular period, this time in the tribulation. So we see that they are people who believe the message. They heed the warning of the judgment to come. They repent of their rebellious ways and they put their trust in Christ. Fourthly, we learn that these people, the true believers, are the ones who know that God truly judges the evil and the ungodly. Look at verse 10. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. You see, these believers know that you reap what you sow. And today, no one wants to talk about that. No one wants to talk about The fact that there is judgment for sin. There are consequences for immorality. There is going to be a judgment for those that are sexually immoral. There is going to be a real judgment for those who are fornicators and who are liars and those who are thieves. This book of Revelation teaches that, but not just the book of Revelation, the entire scriptures say that the wages of sin is what? Death, separation from God. There's a consequence and there's a punishment for sin. True believers will endure with their ultimate loyalty to the Lord until the end. True believers have their names forever written in the book of life. True believers are those that don't just hear the word of God, they heed the word of God, they take it to heart and they do it. True believers are those who know that God truly judges the evil and the ungodly. Notice, if anyone kills with a sword, with a sword he must be killed. There's a punishment for sin. And if they're not punished by the courts here, they'll be punished elsewhere. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. And the good news is that though the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. It doesn't come automatically. The Bible never teaches universalism. It doesn't teach that everybody is safe. There must be a recognition of sin and a repentance of following a rebellious ways. And so in the tribulation period, there are going to be those people who realize, hey, I was following a deceiver. I was following a liar. I was following a murderer. I was following the ways of this false leader, and I was walking in the course of this world with the rest of the children of disobedience. And so there's a repentance for sin. There's an acknowledgement that I was going my own rebellious way, and now I need to turn from that way and trust the Savior. That's called repentance and faith. And that's what the gospel calls for. There is no salvation apart from repentance, biblical repentance, and honest to God faith in Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross. The true believer knows this. The true believer knows that if he leads other people into captivity, it could be into the captivity of sin. Say if I lead another person into my sinful practices, there's going to be a consequence for that. If I lead a person into captivity, it could be into prison or something else, whatever would capture, there's a consequence for that. If there is going to be some murder, if there's going to be some slander, any kind of sin is going to have some kind of repercussions, and there is a day of judgment. It's appointed to all men once to die, and then comes the judgment. The true believer knows that. Now, with that understanding, the true believer has great assurance, even in the midst of these tests, and great strength. And that's in the tribulation period. But can't we be strengthened with these truths today? Those four points. So let's repeat them again. The assurance of the saints is their ultimate loyalty to God endures to the end. Secondly, their names are written in the book of life. Thirdly, they heed the warnings. They don't just hear the word, they heed it. Repent and believe. And fourthly, they know that God judges evil. Now, onto the biblical picture of the false prophet. Now, I'm gonna give you just sort of an overview here of the points I wanna cover very quickly, and I'm giving you an outline. The antecedents of the false prophets. Just as we learned last week that before there is the appearance of the Antichrist, there are many Antichrists, and there have been people who've been opposed to Christ, counterfeit Christ, false Christ in times past. And so we have had false prophets in the past. And we have had people who have misrepresented the message of God in the past. So we see also in verse 11, we'll have the appearance of the false prophet. And what we learn about his appearance will teach us about his character. Thirdly, we'll look at the authority of the false prophet. Where does he get his authority? What gives him this clout in the eyes of the masses? Then we'll look at the agenda of the false prophet. What is he after? And then, fifthly, we'll look at the activity of the false prophet. How does he get what he's after? What does he do? And then we'll look at the associate of the false prophet. And the associate of the false prophet is the Antichrist himself. But we'll see how they all come together. Let's look, first of all, at the antecedents of the false prophet. Now, I want you to know that he's not called the false prophet in this particular passage. the second beast, but he is called the false prophet elsewhere. In Revelation 16, verse 13, and I saw a dragon coming, I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and we know that's Satan, and out of the mouth of the beast, that's the Antichrist, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. We see now in the book of Revelation an unholy trinity. And just as God is three in one, now we have a satanic unholy trinity of three in one. So we have the mind of Satan being communicated through the first beast, the Antichrist, and being worshiped through the second beast, the false prophet. What is the role of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit doesn't speak of himself. The Holy Spirit speaks of who? Christ and exalts people and points people to Christ. What do we see the false prophet do? Point people to the Antichrist. And so just as we see specific roles among the holy trinity, so we see there's specific roles in this unholy trinity of the Satan and the Antichrist and the false prophet. And whereas the true God is holy, holy, holy, We see in the false trinity unholiness. Six, six, six. Man, man, man. Remember, that's man's number. Seven, seven, seven is the number of perfection. And all of us fall short of perfection. And we see this so explicitly illustrated in the unholy trinity. The dragon, Satan, the first beast, the Antichrist, and the second beast, the false prophet. So let's look at the antecedents. Oh, before I go to that, let me also draw your attention to the fact that the false prophet is, the second beast is called the false prophet, again in Revelation chapter 20, verse 10. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 19, 20. and the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." What does this teach us? It teaches us that the Antichrist and the false prophet are persons. There are lots of people who symbolically interpret the book of Revelation and say, well, the beast stands for this whole system. And this stands for that whole system. And they spiritualize and allegorize. But the scriptures say specifically, you don't throw a system into the lake of fire. It's persons. So let's just be honest to God in our interpretation of scripture. It's so easy to kind of spiritualize the book of Revelation so that it really has nothing to say to me. You know what I mean? It's for someone else. Or to so categorize it that only chapters one to three have to deal with me because I'm a Christian living in the church age and nothing else has to deal with me. Know it is God's word to all people and all scripture is profitable for correction and for teaching and for reproof, isn't it? And for our edification. And aren't you being edified as we're reading beyond chapter three of the book of Revelation? I think so. So anyway, we see that these are persons. And also, there's some people who say that the first beast and the second beast are the same. But that's not what the Bible says. How many persons are thrown in the lake of fire? Two at that particular time. So it's not the first beast and the second beast is one, no, they're two. Anyway. Point made. Okay, so we have an unholy trinity and we see now their antecedents to the false prophets. Now, where do we see the first existence of false prophecy? In the Garden of Eden, right? And there is the serpent. There are plenty of examples throughout the Bible of false prophets and plenty of warnings. So first I'm gonna talk about the existence of false prophets. We see the serpent. who was violating God's word. Notice how he used subtlety and craftiness in verse one of Genesis chapter three. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Let's have a Bible study. What was he really meaning behind his words? There must be something symbolic that doesn't really mean that you shouldn't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So he very subtly casts a disdain upon God's word. What did he actually say? What was he meaning? What's behind the words? We see in verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you shall surely not die. So it starts with sort of a violation, a distortion of the word. There's distortion that goes on. It's very subtle. And that's why we need to be good students of the word. This is why we need to be discerning people. Because you'll see over time the enemy knows how to manipulate and distort and twist the truth. And then eventually it becomes contradiction. Notice he doesn't start with the contradiction, he starts with the distortion. And then he goes to the contradiction, you shall surely not die. And then we see that this serpent is called the angel of light in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 3. But I am afraid, Paul says, that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Very subtly, the enemy works to try to move your affections, your devotion, your loyalty away from the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ. And what Paul is amazed about when he writes the Corinthians is that the church so easily puts up with it. Oh, you know, it's just a song that we're singing. Even though the song is not biblical, we'll just sort of sing the song. It's nothing really big. I'm afraid, he says, that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes along and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Someone comes racked from a meeting and says, oh, I was at this meeting and I received this whole new baptism of spirit. receiving another spirit other than the spirit that was received when you truly put your faith in Jesus Christ. You need to be wary of those kind of things. And if you accept a different gospel, what do I mean by a different gospel? Well, Paul goes on to explain this in the same passage. In verse 14, he says, no wonder for even as Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, An angel of light doesn't look too scary, does it? No, it looks pretty attractive. When the enemy comes to deceive, he doesn't come as a sort of Stephen King monster or something that would freak you out. No, he comes as something very alluring, very charming. Oh, this is just what I've been looking for, an angel of light. And so people are captivated and they're attracted to the particular way that Satan has disguised himself. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of, watch this, what does it say? Righteousness. And I like what I believe is the King James Version says ministers of righteousness. whose end will be according to their deeds. So what do we mean a minister of righteousness? Righteousness means being right with God. This is how you get right with God. Don't eat meat, become a vegan. Actually, the scriptures talk about doctrines of demons. And no, you can eat whatever you want to eat and if you choose not to eat meat, but if you make that a means of righteousness, if you think you are more in the right with God because you are eating God's particular diet, That really is deception. Or if you feel, oh, I'm gonna raise my kids a certain way. And that becomes your stand for righteousness. I am a righteous person. I'm a homeschooling parent. Homeschooling is great. That's fine. Eating well is great. I'm all for it. And I could use more of that. But if I use that as my righteousness, that is a false gospel. Legalism, false gospel. And so Paul says, I marvel that you put up with this nonsense. I marvel that you put it up with it. You see, there's been false prophets around for a long time. And there are those who will distort and contradict and mislead. Notice how often Jesus, as he's teaching about the end times, speaks about the acceleration of deception, acceleration of misleading people. Let me just give you an example. Matthew 24 says, and Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you. Matthew 24, 11. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead. How many? Many, many, many, many. And Matthew 24, 24. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. If it were possible, even those people whose names were written in the book of life would be deceived. But thank God for his mercy that keeps us and his power that keeps us. We see that false prophets were active in the history of Israel. We see that the neighboring nations had their false gods, and they were the prophets of Baal. And just as King Ahab and Jezebel were types of the Antichrist, they also had on their sides the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. And how often these rulers have their false prophets. They have people working alongside them. And they're particularly bothered if their false prophets do not say what they want them to say. Elijah was known as the Troubler of Israel at a time in their history when they had forsaken the commands and followed other Baals. So you remember Elijah summons 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table to come to Mount Carmel. And there was a test on Mount Carmel. In 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 23, Elijah says, now let them give us two oxen and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up and place it on the wood and put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your God and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God who answers by fire. He is God. And all the people say, hey, that's a good idea. And then verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. In the book of Jeremiah, we realize that there are those who prophesy according to their own imaginations. Jeremiah 7.23, but this is what I commanded them saying, obey my voice and I will be your God and you will be my people and you will walk in all the way which I command you that it may be well with you. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward. We don't want to see the people of God going backward, but that's what happens when you have people who are listening to prophecies that are coming from people's own imaginations. So not only do we have pictures of the existence of false prophets, but we have warnings about them. Let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse one. It's good if you can get this through your eye gate, through the Bible. And this is very important for us to understand, particularly as we get to the book of Revelation. Verse one says, if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder comes true concerning which he spoke to you saying, let us go after other gods whom you have not known and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So even if the signs and wonders or the prophecies attest to being accurate, He says, you are not to listen to them. Why? Because the whole issue is to move your heart. We spoke about this the other day with just how a lot of churches are becoming dream centers, where you come and you find, we help you find your dream. We help you find your destiny. That is not the purpose of the church. You need to recognize your destiny first. And when you recognize your destiny, then you'll want the church. Right? I was reading this week about a church where we're not a church for those who know Jesus. Well, if you're not a church for those who know Jesus, it shows that it's not a church. They say, well, we're just bringing people in. Well, what are you bringing them to? We're just into evangelism. Did Jesus give us a commission to evangelize without making disciples? And what are you evangelizing people to? So we must know the real Jesus. And anything, even if it's got good things going on, you have to be discerning. Where is it putting your heart in relationship to the God who's made himself known in the Bible? He went on to say that we don't have Bible studies in our church. We're not about Bible studies. If you want Bible studies, you go to another church. And this is what's happening, not just there, but many places. The church is becoming a business to draw people into an experience. And so we have worship experiences. but we don't have obedience, heeding to the word of God, where there is a repentance and faith and a making of disciples that will make disciples and change the world through the gospel. So there are warnings going on. We can go on in verse four. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear him and you shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him and cling to him. Verse five says, but that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you. from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. If your brother, listen to this, your mother's son or your son or daughter or the wife you cherish or your friend who is as your own soul, wow, your closest friend, your bosom buddy, whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you, or far from you, who have not known you. from one end of the earth to the other end, you shall not yield to him or listen to him. This is even if it's your brother or your wife or your friend. You just say, I'm sorry, I'm not going. It's not because the signs aren't real. It's not because what they prophesied did not come true. It's because of what's behind it. It's moving me away from my sincere devotion to the word of God. Our faith is tied to the word of God. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. It's the word of God that our allegiance must be tied to. And that's what is being taught in the book of Deuteronomy here. Why such severe punishment? He says in verse 9, but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death, because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Why is it such severe punishment? It's because false prophecy is a serious matter. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 25. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in my name says the Lord Saying I had a dream I had a dream How long is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood even these prophets of the deception of? Their own hearts who intend to make my people forget my name By their dreams which they relate to one another just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has my word speak my word in truth. So the purpose of false prophecy and teaching is to remove you from, to cause you to distrust, to distort the word of God so that your heart is moved away. So there's the warnings. about false prophecy in Jeremiah, which I just read to you. And their purpose is to make you forget my name, which means my self-revelation in the word, by their dreams, which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has my word speak my word in truth. Don't anchor your dreams, don't anchor your faith in your dreams, anchor your dreams in the word. So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, you will not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you. Remember what Jeremiah was up against? Jeremiah was up against a whole school of prophets. who are saying, oh, don't worry about the king of Babylon. His days are numbered. You don't need to be upset about that. There's no judgment coming to Jerusalem. And the Lord said to Jeremiah, that's not true at all. There's going to be a judgment. And there's going to be 70 years of captivity. And all these other prophets said, no, that's nonsense. But the Lord says to Jeremiah in chapter 27, verse 14, do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, you will not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you. For I have not sent them. How do we know if a person's been sent from God? That is a good question. He goes on to explain. But they prophesy falsely in my name in order that I may drive you out and that I may He's also saying here, if you're catching this, he says that I'm allowing this to happen. I'm allowing the false prophets to exist and I'm allowing this to happen in Israel as a judgment. And so when we see an acceleration of people falling prey to the deceiver, it's also a judgment on the false church. So let's go quickly to Jesus speaking about this subject in the Sermon on the Mount. arguably the greatest sermon ever preached. People always talk about the Sermon on the Mount as being the greatest sermon. Non-believers speak about the Sermon on the Mount and they idolize the Sermon on the Mount, but what is the Sermon on the Mount saying? He's exposing the false prophets of the Pharisees. He's saying the Pharisees are telling you that you're righteous if you do all these things. If you jump through all these religious hoops, then you are a righteous person. And Jesus says, no, except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you cannot in any way enter the kingdom of heaven. So he's saying it very, very clearly that righteousness is completely different than the religious self-righteousness that you have been practicing in apostate Judaism. He's saying that if you want to know what righteousness looks like, and he describes everything that's true about himself, blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor in spirit. Everything about Jesus is a picture of righteousness. It's not a religious routine that makes you righteous. It's a relationship with a living God through someone who can make you right with him, a savior. That's what righteousness is about. But notice what he says. He gets to the climax of his message, and he gives an invitation. Here's the invitation of the Sermon on the Mount. You familiar with it? Starts with verse 13. Verse 13 says, enter through the narrow gate. All of you who are listening, I don't want you to sit on the sidelines any longer. I want you to do something. I want you to enter in. to this plan of salvation. There is a way for you to be right with God, and it's not through religious righteousness of pharisaical outward conformity to religious standards, but it's through repentance and faith. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. And then he describes these people. Notice this is in the same context. I'm inviting you all to get saved, Jesus says, through repentance and faith. But there's a problem. There are false prophets that are standing like maybe Walmart greeters on the road. They're just saying, go over this way, everybody. Come on. There's a big thing happening. And broad is the way of destruction. So the false prophets are basically pointing to this. Come on, everybody. Welcome. Welcome. The broad way. We wanna be on the right way, the narrow way that leads to life, amen? So he says, grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. He was now indicting the false prophets for their character. Because why were they in the religious business? For money. They were advancing themselves. Hey, we can really kind of stuff our pockets with this. A lot of people are turned on to this worship experience here now. And I can build a million dollar house. And I can settle down. And I can become wealthy. And you find that. Jesus is saying, can't you see the hypocrisy? Can't you see that the grapes don't come from a thistle? Can't you see? So the way to discern false prophets is also not just by their words and their motives to deceive, to draw you away, but also about their character. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire. Judgment is coming. So then you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father, who is in heaven, will enter. And you remember, these people that Jesus was talking about, the Pharisees, were saying that our father is Abraham. And Jesus says to them in John chapter 8, your father is not Abraham. Your father is the devil. If your father truly was Abraham, you'd believe me, because I'm the seed of Abraham. I am the Messiah. And if a person doesn't receive Jesus, the Son, he doesn't honor the Father. And he doesn't know the Father. So here he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven who will enter. He's talking about even people who looked at Jesus as Lord. He's saying, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy? He's speaking to preachers. Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Didn't we in your name perform many signs and wonders? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. He doesn't say, I used to know you. But he said, I never knew you. What does that tell you? There was never any foundational repentance and faith. And people can come to Jesus for all kinds of reasons. They can come to Jesus for a worship experience. They can come to Jesus to make their life better, for self-betterment. And the good news is that he does make your life better. But that's not the gospel. That's a byproduct. That's not the reason. But notice what's at the heart of the matter. People do not want Christ to rule over them. They don't want to come to Christ on his terms. It's called lawlessness. Lawlessness. Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. You who practice lawlessness. There are many people in churches today who think that they're Christians, who think they're going to heaven, but they are still living as a law unto themselves. They are still living life on their own terms. They do not acknowledge their need for a savior because they think that they are well. Yet the physician doesn't come for those that are well, but for those that are sick. That's what Jesus said, that he, the son of man, has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And a lot of people who are lost that don't know they're lost. Have you ever been lost and not know you're lost? All of a sudden you say, where am I? And don't, that's what the Lord wants us to recognize. What does the Lord say when he came to Adam in the garden? Adam, where are you? Do you realize you're lost? You're lost, buddy. You need the gospel. So let's look very quickly at the appearance of the beast. Okay, what do we know about the beast? He's the beast of the same kind. Notice, let's go back to Revelation chapter 13. He's the beast of the same kind. Remember, we've had this word before in our studies of the gospel, particularly the gospel of John. And it's alos. It's the word in the Greek that means another, but another of the same kind. So we are introduced to another beast, but he's of the same kind as the one we just met in the Antichrist. So I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb. And he spoke as a dragon. So in the appearance of the false prophet, we learn that he is at heart a beast, like the Antichrist. He is ferocious like the Antichrist. He is a murderer, a liar, a thief. Secondly, we see that he comes up out of the earth. The Antichrist came up out of the sea. Now in biblical terminology, the sea has got an unfathomable depths. So there is a greater depth in the sea than there would be in the earth. So he's coming up out of the earth, speaking of his origin. And this speaks of his secondary role in relationship to the Antichrist. The Antichrist is the one that he will serve. He's a secondary figure. He is serving the Antichrist as the false prophet. Thirdly, we see his outward demeanor. We've got the two little horns. Remember, and this speaks of his appearance like a lamb, he's lamb-like, meaning he's very civil, he's seen as being very approachable, yeah, harmless, and yet we see this non-threatening outward appearance is covering his true intention. We also see with this lamb-like appearance that his work will be predominantly in the field of religion. Now, it's interesting today, people have this assumption that we're becoming more non-religious as a culture. But that is very false. I go into the Concord Library, and I'll see yoga posters. Teaching children mindfulness. Have you heard mindfulness? Mindfulness is actually syncretism. It brings together Hinduism and Buddhism. Well, it's right in our schools. It's right in our health programs. Yoga, the Sanskrit word yoga means union with God. People are saying, oh, we've got to separate church and state. Well, what about getting Hinduism and Buddhism out of your kindergarten class? You know, I'm just saying that we can see a setup of bringing about a one-world religion through a very popular syncretism. So we see how the political leader, the Antichrist, is going to work with another leader in the religious field. And there will be a one-world religion that's going to be very popular. But although the outward demeanor of the false prophet is lamb-like, he's going to be speaking the mind of the dragon, the devil, Satan. Now, do you realize there's a difference between the doctrine of God and the doctrine of demons? And anything that is advocating salvation through any other means but God's means of salvation through the cross of his son, Jesus Christ, is a doctrine of demons. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, but the Spirit explicitly says, what does that mean, explicitly? It's pretty clear, isn't it? You wanna know the meaning of this? It's pretty obvious. It's explicitly said that in the latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. That's going to happen. Explicitly, it says. And it goes on to describe some of those, like forbidding marriage was one of them, and eating only, not eating meats. These are just sort of examples that Paul gives later on in that chapter. So we now turn to the subject of the authority of the false prophet. We've learned about his character and his mission through his appearance, now his authority. Where does he get his authority? He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. So he's getting the authority delegated to him from the first beast. So the first thing we see is that it's delegated from the first beast. He's given this rank. We also see that his clout is derived from a deceptive act. The deceptive act is the fatal wound that was healed. We spoke about what's going to happen to the Antichrist, and I believe that it's fabricated, There's a false miracle that will make it appear that the Antichrist has come back to life so that the false prophet will preach a resurrection. But instead of preaching the resurrection of Christ, he'll be preaching the resurrection of the Antichrist. So we see how derived from the deceptive act, he's getting clout with the populace. Now let's look at the agenda of the false prophet. We've already seen this in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, that the devil is at work through false prophecy to remove people's hearts from their pure, sincere devotion to who God is. And so we see that's exactly what the false prophet will do in relationship to the Antichrist. He's going to draw people's affections to the Antichrist, so their allegiance is ultimately to him only. And so verse 12 says, and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. John Phillips writes in his commentary on Revelation, he says, the role of the false prophet will be to make the new religion appealing and palatable to men. No doubt it will combine all the features of the religious systems of men, it will appeal to man's total personality, and will take full advantage of his carnal appetite. The dynamic appeal of the false prophet will lie in his skill in combining political expediency with religious passion, self-interest with benevolent philanthropy. lofty sentiment with blatant sophistry, moral platitude with unbridled self-indulgence. His arguments will be subtle, convincing, and appealing. His oratory will be hypnotic, for he will be able to move the masses to tears or whip them to frenzy. He will control the communication media of the world and will skillfully organize mass publicity to promote his ends. He will be master of every promotional device and public relations gimmicks. He will manage the truth with guile beyond words, bending it, twisting it, distorting it. Public opinion will be his to command. He will mold world thought and shape human opinion like so much potter's clay. His deadly appeal will lie in the fact that what he says will sound so right, so sensible, so exactly what unregenerate men have always wanted to hear. It's quite a description. So he has the agenda to capture the affections of people so their undivided loyalty will be to the Antichrist. We see also the activity of the false prophet. In verse 13, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven to the earth in the presence of men. Where have we seen this before? We saw this just with Elijah in calling down fire. So in other words, we see that there is fire. As we've often seen with Moses and Janice and Jambres, the magicians and Pharaoh, there's a counterfeit that goes with the true. And so we see that somehow the false prophet will perform these signs and those signs will be deceptive. And the Lord says it's part of the delusion. in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. We learned about this, how God is going to use this deception in his purpose to bring judgment. 2 Thessalonians 2 11. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness. Thirdly, we see the false prophet is causing the abomination of desolation. Remember, we've referred to this before and how there was the prediction in Daniel about the person who would take the place of God in the temple, the place of worship, and we saw a shadow fulfillment of that with Antiochus Epiphanes. But then Jesus says, it's not yet been fulfilled. So some people who might say, well, this was all fulfilled before the time of Christ. Jesus says, no, it has not been fulfilled. He says, you need to watch out for this. It's not yet happened in Matthew 24. So verse 22. So what is prophesied in Daniel's chapter 12 is going to happen and is going to be caused by the false prophet. Notice in verse 14. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast. so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." Wow. I really don't know what that means. All I know is that when this book was written, think about it, there was nothing known of the technology that we have today. There's nothing about artificial intelligence. They didn't have Alexa answering in the morning any question that you have. seemingly omnipresent. And it's getting a little scary that way today with the internet. You just have a little conversation and say, oh, I'd like to get a new pair of skis. And all of a sudden, on your computer, sports shops are right there. It's like, who's listening to me? But we have the technology today. where there are really no secrets, there's no privacy. And so it's very easy to see how there can be this one world government. I was just talking with someone who came back from China and they talked about surveillance. If you jaywalk You will get a ticket in the mail in China because a camera caught you jaywalking. So we see the same thing kind of happening, this loss of privacy. But also, I think of just the way we can have CGI, you know, computer generated imagery. Maybe there's some CGI going on in the temple that causes the image to speak. I don't know. I don't know. All I'm saying is that the Bible tells us that he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So there's another thing that this image is able to do. It's able to strike out and kill the people who do not give allegiance to the beast. Whatever it means, it's a powerful image, isn't it? And it is something that warns us of the nature of false prophecy, pointing people in the wrong direction. Fourthly, we see that the false prophet causes people to receive the mark of the beast. He serves the Antichrist's agenda in rallying the masses to implement the program to receive the mark of the beast, without which no one will be able to buy or sell. So this is the key. I was just listening again this morning in a conversation of someone coming back from the Far East and saying that in order to do anything, you have to have your passport scanned, you have to have your identity card. And those who've been through rationing in Europe, you needed your ration card if you wanted food after World War II. If you didn't have your ration card, you were in trouble. So having the mark of the beast is very important for survival in the tribulation period. And obviously, the Christians are not going to be receiving the mark of the beast. And so they're going to experience some deprivation in that regard. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. That's interesting. the associate of the false prophet, verse 18. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast. It means that at the time, people will be able to figure out who the beast is. For the number is that of a man, and his number is 666. And gallons of ink have been spilled trying to explain who is the Antichrist. And people have had all their different ideas. I believe that people will know in the time and they'll be able to calculate who he is when he comes. But what I think we should calculate this morning is where is our heart's affection? Are we more aligned to 666 than we are to 777? Are we kind of easily accommodating that which is really of this popular culture that denies the specific truth of the Bible so we have a Christless Christianity? A bloodless savior. You know what I mean? Salvation through something apart from the shedding of blood of Christ. Where there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Without Christ's death on the cross, there is no forgiveness. So can we preach forgiveness without the cross? No. But yet that's what's happening. Come to Jesus and be forgiven. Come to Jesus and be his child of God without coming to the cross. That's diabolical. And it leads people to hell. And what is Jesus saying about that? He's saying, can't you see? That's like the greeter saying, OK, come on, the broad way to destruction. Here you go. Welcome. Good to have you here. So the conclusion. Lord Jesus, may we be a people whose faith is tied to your word. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for the word, the living word, the word made flesh. We thank you for the written word. It is pure. It is true. We thank you that the word deals with us like a hammer, like a fire. It refines us. We thank you for your spirit. We thank you, Lord, that you give us understanding that prepares us for life. And so, Father, use this message. May we walk in the truth of it. May we not give way to lies and deceptions. Give us an alertness. Give us a hatred for that which you hate and love for that which you love. And Lord, we pray that if there's anyone here who doesn't know you, that they would hear the invitation, they would enter in at the gate, and that they would choose the narrow way, that there is salvation through repentance and faith in a very real Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's free. You don't have to jump through religious hoops. Jesus did the work. He paid the price on the cross that we could be justly forgiven. So we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.