******SERMON OUTLINE******
The Tragic Prophecy...
1) Introduction (Depart From Me)...
Praise God, Church!
a) Beware...
The theme of this weeks conference has been, "Men of God beware,
make your calling and election sure.
And that theme has been drawn from scripture.
In 2Peter Chapter 1 the Apostle Peter admonishes us to diligently seek after and obtain
a list of characteristics that will guarantee our fruitfulness. (vs. 5-8)
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter then goes on to warn us to keep these things in our remembrance
that we might not fall by the way side and become blind to truth.
Jesus, about 35 years earlier had given us that same warning. Amen?
b) Read:
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one 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.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to 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?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
b) Tragic Prophecy...
How many in here tonight know that this passage of scripture is prophetic?
Not only is it a prophetic word spoken by Jesus Himself,
But it is one of the most tragic, most lamentable, end time prophecies in the Bible.
It is tragic in the sense that it is clearly understood that
Jesus was speaking of professing Christians.
And He was saying I never knew you,
Depart from me you worker of iniquity,
You worker of lawlessness,
You who became comfortable in your complacency,
Depart from me you who were willingly deceived by false prophets,
By wolves in sheep’s clothing!
See, Jesus spoke this prophetic utterance knowing
that in the last days that this type of lawlessness,
This type of worldliness would infiltrate the Church,
And that it would be the cause of the apostasy,
or "great falling away". Amen?
Think about this passage for a minute.
Jesus said that "many" would be denied on that day.
And we know that they are professing christians
because of the fact that they claimed to do works in the name of Christ.
They were claiming to be Christians,
Followers of Christ,
They claimed to be members of the elect Church of God,
yet Christ turned them away.
2) Fruits...
a) Good Fruit...
The reason for this was their fruit.
How many know that Jesus said we are to be known by our fruit?
See Peter gave us a list of eight things that the believer should possess
in order to produce good fruit.
Now each one of those things produces a fruit of it’s own. Amen?
And it would benifit us to have anyone of those eight characteristics added unto us,
But how many know that it would be better to possess all eight. Amen?
See, I don’t want just a little bit of God. Amen?
I want to walk in the fullness of God.
I don’t want to just have life...
I want to have life and to have it more abundantly!!!
When the enemy attacks I don’t want to just have on my shield or my helmet...
But I want to have on the full armor of God.
Peter felt the same way, Amen!
That’s why he tells us that if all eight of these things abound in us
there’s a guarantee that the fruit will follow.
See think of these things as fertilizer to your fruit tree, Amen.
Peter said to keep these things in your remembrance?
Well, when you’re examining yourself,
Which all christians should get into the habit of doing,
Remember to fertilize your crops amen.
We should be fruitful all year round not just in certain seasons of our life.
Not just in the presence of other christians on sunday morning,
but every where you go.
b) Bad Fruit...
See, I’ve always said that we are walking talking Bibles.
Epistles that testify of something.
If someone reads your testament will it testify of Jesus,
or of something else?
Well, here’s a new one, amen.
You are a walking talking fruit tree, amen.
I don’t care what kind of fruit you are just so long as everyone knows you’re
a fruit, Amen.
Maybe we’ve got some nut trees in here, too,
Cause I thought I seen a few nuts on my way in. Amen!
We should all be nuts about Jesus.
Anyways, Ask yourself this...
What kind of fruit am I bearing?
Is it good fruit,
Bad fruit,
No fruit,
See we need to examine ourselves daily and line up with the Word
of God in order to produce good fruit.
Just because something might seem good to you doesn’t mean it is good fruit.
See bad fruit consists of bad works amen?
It also consists of our so called "good works" done independent of God.
And how many know that no fruit is bad fruit as well?
Peter said if you lack the things, fertilizers, that make you fruitful,
then you become blind to truth.
If you don’t tend your garden you can go from apostolic to apostate
in the blink of an eye, amen.
3) Apostasy...
a) Apostasy first...
See, how many in here tonight know that we are to be looking
forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ?
Well, how many know that there are certain prophesies in the Bible
that are to take place before that great event.
One of them is the apostasy.
The Apostle Paul, in response to claims that Jesus had already returned, said in
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
So the falling away will come first. amen?
b) Apostasia...
Many Bible scholars, teachers, and preachers often mistakenly call this
the great falling away from the Church or Christianity.
God has given me a revelation that this is not so.
The Greek word for falling away is apostasia which is where we
derive our word apostasy from.
And the greek definition for apostasia is "a defection from truth"
So it’s not that in the last days these apostates will disassociate themselves with Christianity.
We know that because they are so disillusioned they claim
to do works in the name of Christ to Christ.
When in all actuality Jesus said He never knew them.
So they still claim to be Christian only they have disassociated themselves
from sound biblical doctrine.
Peter said they are blind and unable to see afar off amen.
2Peter said we are to remember our fertilizer and be established in the present truth.
If not we become apostates only bearing bad fruit
and destined to be hewn down and cast into the fire.
A true apostate is unaware of that fact.
They think that they’re right and you are wrong.
They truly believe that they are in God’s will.
c) Ear Ticklers...
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Paul said in...
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
How many know that we are living in a day and time when there are many following after fables.
There’s a whole lot of ear tickling going on, Amen!
How many know that there’s a whole lot of signs and lying wonders going on.
A whole lot of faking and shaking going on. Amen!
So called shepherds loving themselves more than the sheep.
They would rather tickle their ears and loosen than purse strings
than to lead them to Christ.
There are wolves in the midst of the Church today.
And god is saying look at their fruit.
Jesus is saying you will know them by their fruit.
Good or Bad....Look at the fruit, Church!
d) Perilous times (Conclusion)...
We are living in perilous times church.
I believe that the falling away from sound doctrine is here.
The rapture is closer than it has ever been amen.
The Tragic Prophecy by:
Rev. John Butler Jr. (Copyright © 2008)
