The Tragic Prophecy

******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.