False Christs and False Prophets
Matthew 24:24
“For there
shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect.”
Question:
How shall we know a false Christ?
Answer: We
shall know a false Christ: first by his words, second by his works, third by
his person.
We shall
know a false Christ by his words. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the good
shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Since
the Lord Jesus said “the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” what must
be said for those to whom our Lord alludes as, “goats” (Matthew 25:32) and
“wolves” (Matthew 7:15) and others as “dogs” and “sows” (II Peter 2:22); by our
Lords own words it must be true that as the good shepherd he died for his own
sheep and not for wolves, goats, and others. The sheep in John 10; 11 are those
of the election of grace, or the “very elect” of Matthew 24:24, who were given
to the Son of God from eternity (II Thessalonians 2:13) in order that he should
bring them to glory, (Hebrews 2:10; Ephesians 1:1-11; II Thessalonians 2:13; II
Timothy 1:9 etc. Someone may say, well,
anyone can be a sheep if he will believe the gospel.
It is true that all the sheep of
Christ, who have been given the new birth, believe the gospel, but their belief
of the gospel does not make them a sheep or a member of the election of grace. Belief
of the gospel is the direct effect and the immediate result of; first, the Father
having chosen that particular person to salvation; second, the redemption of
that particular person by the blood shedding and death of the Lord Jesus
Christ; third, the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost upon that particular person
by which he gives new life to that person and causes that person to believe the
gospel. (Ephesians 2:8, 9; Philippians 1:29; Romans 3:10-18; John 6:44) Proof that the Lord Jesus Christ did not give
his life as a ransom for all men without exception is found in John 10:26-27,
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My
sheep hear my voice,” (that is, My sheep are enabled to believe my words, and
they are made willing to believe my words) “and I know them,” (because they
were given to Christ of the Father from all eternity) “and they follow me:” (because
they believe and love the good shepherd by the effectual operation of the Holy
Ghost). The proof mentioned above is this; Our Lord Jesus declared who it is that
he gave his life for, it is the sheep, (John 10:11) Then in John 10:26 our Lord
declared “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep,” in these words
our Lord made it clear that he did not intend his death as the redemption of
all and every man, but that his death is the redemption of the elect and only
the elect, for his words were “but ye believe not because ye are not of my
sheep, or because ye are not of the elect.
The common argument against these
principles is; men do not believe because they choose not to believe, and therefore
they are not the sheep of Christ. That
statement is a clear contradiction of the words of the Lord Jesus. Our Lord
said “but ye believe not” this is the effect, “because ye are not of my sheep”
this is the cause. These men (the Jews; verse 24) were the inveterate enemies
of the Lord Jesus, their stony hearts had not been broken through sovereign
grace and they acted in their own rebellion and unbelief against Christ. Had
those men been given to Christ from eternity it would have been different with
them, they would have believed and loved the Lord Jesus, through the saving
operations of the Holy Ghost. It is clear from this that the Christ who died
for all men, without exception is a false Christ. And a false prophet is one
who preaches a false Christ.
We
shall know a false Christ by his works. The angel of the Lord appeared unto
Joseph in a dream, saying, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew
1:21) In this verse “his people” are the elect of God as in Matthew 24:24. It
is the work of Christ to save the elect from their sin, for he is the surety of
the New Testament, (Hebrews 7:22). Looking forward to the cross (John 17:4) the
Lord Jesus said: “I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do.” That work concerned his people or those that the
Father had given unto him (I Peter 1:2), what he did; he justified them by his
blood, (Romans 3:24; 5:9; 8:30) he “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”
(Hebrews 9:26). Because the elect are justified by the blood of Christ the Holy
Spirit comes to them in regenerating power, and sanctifies their persons. The
salvation of the elect is the accomplishment of the sovereign God; Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost.
Contrary-wise:
the Christ that is currently preached is one who only made salvation a
possibility, he only made man savable. According to main stream religion of our
day; the blood of Jesus Christ has no direct and immediate fruit and effect,
which procures the salvation of anyone in particular. In the current scheme,
Christ has made the way and man must make the difference by an act of his own
supposed free will. What utter robbery of God is this? That salvation should be
a co-operative effort of man and God, and not the work of God in Christ alone.
What blasphemy of the precious blood of Christ; to declare that his blood
shedding and death might have had its full and proper issue and yet no one be
saved thereby. Such preaching is the preaching of a false Christ, and those who
preach a false Christ are false prophets.
We
shall know a false Christ by his person. “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). The Christ of Holy Scripture is God,
and he is man. He is, as truly God as if he is not man, and he is, as truly man
as if he is not God. The two natures are so united in that one glorious person that
there is no intermixture of the natures in that person, and yet that man is God
with us (Matthew 1:23) and the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). A false Christ
is one, who is, a son of God (one of many) and not the unique Son of God, or
one who is man and not God, or one who is God and not man. It is the person of
Christ, one glorious person with two distinct natures, he who is both God and
man in one and the same person, he who is the unique and peerless God –man; that
gave his life for the sheep, (John 10:11) and in that, God purchased the church
with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)
It
would be impossible to outline all the ways and means where by the enemy has sought
to pervert the doctrine of Christ. It is sufficient to say we must diligently
search the scriptures to find whether the Christ we hear preached is the true
Christ who has revealed himself in the word of truth. “For the mystery of
iniquity doeth already work” (in the days of the apostles) II Thessalonians 2:7
how mush more now, some two thousand years later. Therefore we must “earnestly
contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.” Jude: 3. “For if
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
whom we”(the apostles) “have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him.” II Corinthians 11:4 Those who preach another Jesus
are “false apostles, deceitful workers” II Corinthians 11:13, 14. Therefore let
us “try the spirits whether they are of God” I John 4:1. Everyone who does not
preach Christ as he has revealed himself in the scripture is not of God but is
of that spirit of antichrist, “because many false prophets are gone out into
the world.” I John 4:1. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have
heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby
we know it is the last time.” I John 2:18. Let us therefore “Study to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15.
For if the Lord
Jesus died for all and every man, without exception, and without distinction;
(as is taught today) then how could he say to any group of persons “ye are not
of my sheep” John 10:26, since he had said in John 10:11 “the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep”? Why would the Lord Jesus say, “For this is my
blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many” (as many as were ordained to eternal life, [Acts 13:48], as
many as thou (God the Father) hast given him, [John17:2])? Why would the Holy
Spirit inspire the prophet Isaiah to write “for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isa. 53:8;
why would the Lord Jesus say “the son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. ” (Matthew 20:28). Why do the scriptures affirm (and the
scriptures cannot be broken, John10:35) Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he
shall save his people from their sins”
(Matthew 1:21)? Why did the apostle Paul write “Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it” (Ephesians
5:25)? Why is it written “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar
people” Titus 2:14? Why is it declared, “According as he hath chosen us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love: having predestinated us” {those whom he chose} “to the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,” (Ephesians 1:4, 5).
But these things are
in hands of Jesus Christ, and these things will be precious to his chosen, (I
Peter 2:6-10), and “who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 13:9, for
“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.”
(Proverbs 20:12)
A.J. Ison
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