False Profession Exposed

(Article for publication week of 8-1- AD 2013)

“”Not everyone that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, ‘ Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, ‘ I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ “

We are blessed to live in a part of the world where there is still some outward respect for Christianity, and where many people profess the name of Christ. Compared with most other places in the world, the people in our area are still well mannered and polite, generally. Many of the sales clerks give you your change with a smile and say, “have a blessed day.” Probably the majority of the folks here in Simpson county and surrounding areas are connected to the church. All the football teams here pray to the “man upstairs” to help them the knock the devil out of the opposing team on Friday nights. Most everybody in these parts is very religious.

But the reality is that many, perhaps most are religiously lost and will finally hear the awful words of Christ, “depart from Me’, and be doomed and damned forever. Our text here in Matthew 7 that we have been looking at applies to many of you. You are religious, but lost. I am laboring to awaken you out of your deadly sleep!

But most of you will dismiss me as crank and a fool and go on into eternity with a false profession and spend eternity where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Friend, I want to ask you a question. Would it not be better to be exposed now as a hypocrite and truly repent, than to wait until the day of Judgment when there is no time left to repent? Every one of us ought to take this in dead earnest and search our souls and examine our profession by the word of God and beg God that if we have not been truly saved to save us today.

I cannot emphasize this too strongly. Profession of Christ does not equal possession of Christ. Just because you have some kind of a profession does not mean you are saved. Just because you belong to the church does not mean you are saved. Just because you have been baptized or sprinkled does not mean that you are saved. This is what my text plainly says.

Now, I know it would be painful and embarrassing and humiliating for you to have to come before the church and admit you had been fooling them and yourself. I know from experience because I had to do that when the Lord truly converted me after I had been a lost church member for twenty years. But friend, who do you fear most, men or Christ? You had better fear Christ for He is your final Judge. It would be infinitely better to admit you are lost and seek Christ than to be cast out by Christ forever. May the Holy Spirit awaken many and reveal unto you your true condition.

Professing Christians Warned

(Article for publication week of 7-18- AD 2013)

"Not every one that sayeth unto me, "Lord, Lord' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works?" And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you' depart from me ye that work iniquity' " (Matthew 7:21-23).

As dear old R.F. Gates said when preaching on this text, "if I could read this text without getting disturbed, I would be disturbed!" Indeed, it is a most disturbing text, for our Lord warns us that many who profess to be saved are simply fooling themselves and others. At the final judgment MANY will hear the awful words from Christ, "depart from me" forever. There are many of you reading this who will find out too late that you never had anything but an empty profession. There are many of you who are nothing more than nominal professors, but you do not know Christ, and He does not know you. There are many of you who are preachers who are lost yourselves and though you prophesy in the name of Christ, you will end up in hell forever.

One thing that I must point out from this text is that we have here a plain, clear, and irrefutable declaration of the Deity of Christ. I never want to miss an opportunity to preach the Deity of Christ, for it is constantly being attacked by Satan. See here- the Lord says HE will be on the judgment throne at the last day. He will send lost sinners to hell. No one but God can or may stand in final judgment. No one but God can or will send lost sinners to hell. (See Genesis 18:25, John 5:22, and Matthew 25:31-46.) Those of you who deny or doubt the Deity of Christ will have a rude awakening as all lost men will. Christ proclaims that He is God by telling us we must stand before HIM at the final judgment.

Now the thing that is so disturbing about this text is that many (note well MANY will be doomed to hell forever) who acknowledge the Lordship of Christ are not really saved. There are multitudes right here in Simpson County who say they believe in Christ who are not saved. There are some of you who claim to believe the Bible who are lost. There are some of you would fight for creationism who are lost. There are some of you who believe much truth, but yet you have never been genuinely converted. You have never entered into salvation by the strait gate of Matthew 7:13-14. You are not in the narrow way that leads to life, but the broad way of nominal profession.

Then there are many of you who are works mongers and think you are doing much service to God and man. You go on "mission trips" perhaps to feed the hungry, or provide medical care to the poor. There are some of you who are active in social activism or perhaps political activism, or "community service". You think God is impressed by all your "wonderful works", but you have neither part nor lot with Christ. You are in the "gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity."

There are many of you who belong to a respectable Church. Perhaps you teach "Sunday school". Perhaps you are a deacon , or a preacher. You have a respectable place in the eyes of men. But your heart is far from God. You will hear your awful doom, "depart from me", FOREVER.

There are many of you who were coaxed to "walk the aisle", or sign a decision card, or "go forward" when the "invitation" was given. You made a decision or a profession, but you have not been born again. You are a stranger to Christ and His saving grace.

Now I want to say a word to you who are irreligious before I close. There are probably some of you so stupid as to think that my warnings against false profession has nothing to do with you. perhaps some are even thinking, "Floyd is sure right. There are so many hypocrites in the Church. I don't even profess Christ, and I am better than some of them." Friend, there is not a word of encouragement in this text for you. If the hypocrite must be doomed and damned forever, where does that leave you who will not even acknowledge Christ?!! You who will not profess and acknowledge and follow Christ will also hear those terrible words, "DEPART FROM ME"!

May the Holy Spirit awaken many this very hour. To professors and non-professors alike I cry, "examine yourselves whether indeed you be in the faith." Now is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late.

Beware of False Prophets

(Article for publication week of 7-11-2013 AD)

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15).

In our recent study of true conversion from Matthew 7:13-14, and Luke 13:24, we saw that one of the hindrances to true conversion is that there are multitudes of false prophets who lead men astray. Notice in our text this week that as soon as our Lord pointed us to the gate of conversion, He then warns us of false prophets. Right there at the gate of conversion are false preachers who hinder men from entering into salvation. False prophets tell men they may get to heaven without entering into salvation by the gate of true and thorough and sound conversion.

If you value your never-dying soul, it behooves you to know the difference in a true man of God, and a false prophet. There are many imposters lying in wait to deceive people. There are multitudes of blind leaders of the blind headed for the ditch, and bringing multitudes of deceived followers down to hell with them.

False prophets are often very nice people. They have the appearance of a sheep, but they are as dangerous as a wild wolf. In fact, they are more dangerous than wolves, for a wolf can only destroy your body, but a false preacher can destroy your soul. False prophets may be found in all sorts of places, Of course we know they are found among the cults and liberal “churches’, but be sure they may also be found in places professedly conservative and sound.

A man that preaches a social “gospel” is not a true man of God. A man who preaches politics is not a true man of God. (However a true man of God is not afraid to take a stand on political issues. I am just making a point that a man may advocate for sound policy in government and be as lost as a goose. I weep and tremble and fear for the souls of multitudes of “conservatives” who have little evidence of being saved. There are many of you who think that joining a mainline church and the Republican Party will get you to heaven, but you will be sorely disappointed when you come to die. And I have no hope whatsoever for liberals and socialists.) Most everybody who marches and advocates for the so-called “down-trodden masses” are lost men on their way to hell, and bringing multitudes of false converts with them. In fact there are many whose bodies are in the grave and their souls are in hell are still leading men into hell with them, for they as the righteous dead continue to speak though they be dead. They continue to speak through their blasphemous writings and recordings and through popular acclaim.

Here is the acid test of a man’s ministry. Does he declare that you are lost in your sins without any hope of saving yourself? Does he declare that Christ is the only way to be saved and that faith in Him Alone is the way to be saved? Does he faithfully call upon you to repent? Does he preach justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Alone? Does he preach the necessity of the new birth? Does he preach sanctification as well as justification? Does he faithfully point men to the strait gate of conversion? Any man who does not preach these things is a false prophet and will bring you down to hell with himself. “Beware of false prophets!”