Published: October 8, 2023 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: Gospel of Mark - Part 87 | Scripture: Mark 13:5-6
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we're in Mark chapter 13 this morning our Focus will be on verses 5 and six but to set the context of the discourse I'm going to read down uh from verse 1 to verse
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8 and as he was going out of the temple one of his disciples said to him teacher behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings and Jesus said to
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him do you see these great buildings not one stone shall be left upon another which will not be torn down and as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple Peter and
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James and John and Andrew were questioning him privately tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled and Jesus began to say
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to them see to it that no one misleads you many will come in my name saying I am he and will mislead many and when you
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hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be frightened those things must take place but that is not yet the end for nation will rise against nation and
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Kingdom against Kingdom there will be earthquakes in various places there will also be famines these things are merely the beginnings of the birth bangs let us
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pray our heavenly father we do ask that you would open our ears our minds our hearts to hear your word proclaimed pray that by your Holy Spirit you would certainly speak to us of these
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things and help us in our understanding that we may gain a heart of wisdom but also we may gain a heart of Faith to walk by faith and not by sight we ask
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these things in Christ's name
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amen take heed he says or see to it when Jesus begins to speak as Mark has him say here and he began to say to them it's an expression that Mark uses
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to tell us that these are Mighty warnings these are things that are to come and it kind of Heralds what Jesus
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is about to say as being serious and being something that they need to turn special attention
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to In this passage before us we we know what's coming the olette discourse but here in Mark he kind of sets this up for us um there are things
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that he will be talking about that are internal they're internal with in the individual but internal within the church meaning their things that they
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encounter or in the passage that we see here things that we'll see individually but there are also things coming that will be external that they
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will be coming upon the body of Christ the the church the things that he warns them to take heed
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of and so here I think we're this first eight verses I think are kind of an introduction in Mark to what's coming and we'll see the internal the external
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the individual and the corporate uh things that he warns them against but here I think he's specifically thinking of the disciples
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his men his people with him when he says uh to them you see to it that many do not mislead
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not mislead you he says many shall come in my name and they will deceive many and then he follows that with the corporate when you hear of
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wars and rumors of wars and later on when you see the abomination of desolation there will be false prophets
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there will be little Messiahs that will come and show signs and wonders s to seduce if possible even the
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elect they'll try to trick you he says into believing what is not true and so he uses these words
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translated in New American Standard see to it other places it's keep your eyes take heed and they're meant to be
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warnings to forewarn them one to coming dangers to alert them to the nature of these conflicts see what these conflicts
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are like plan how you're going to react to them or how you will act in them so that you don't have to react but I think
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again also in Jesus speaking there there's a hope here there there's an assurance to them as his disciples you
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you are mine I have chosen you and I think he's encouraging them the ultimate Triumph will be in me it it will be in my cause and there will be a glorious
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reward for Christ's followers Christ's disciples in the end and so we see him I think warning in verse 5 against false prophets or false
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uh Messiahs but I think in verse six he warns us specifically against false christs and I and I would make a difference of those there there are
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those who who come and they they are false teachers that what I would call pretend Messias they they are deceiving those
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who reject Christ and and there are plenty of those even in our world today but he says many will come in my
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name or literally on my name they will be trading on my name they will be using my name as the Christ as the anointed one as the Messiah and saying I am
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he and they will also mislead many they are the ones who claim that they are Christ come in the flesh again
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coming in coming in glory to take possession of the Kingdom on my name means on the basis of
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my Revelation as the revealer of who God is and they will abuse that title and they will misuse that title for evil
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purposes so I think this text seems to be primarily directing warning about those who say I am he I am Christ as again as if they themselves were
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fulfilling the Prophecies of of Jesus they they are impersonating him they they come not as wolves and sheep's
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clothing they come at it as wolves in the sheep's clothing and that clothing is a REV ation of
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Christ there are some biblical examples of men who came as pretend Messiahs maybe even uh although we don't have the information as false christs in Acts
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chapter five when when uh people are wondering about these disciples that are upsetting the world gal says well wait a minute just watch because we had this
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man thas who he says appeared claiming to be somebody and he turned out to be a nobody and he died and then there was
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Judas of Galilee who appeared on the days of the census and he drew some people after him there were people who didn't take heed and they heard his message but he died as well he was
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killed so gelo was smarter and maybe he was not taking ex everything that Jesus said here but he
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was seeing to it that he wasn't misled and then we read of Simon the Magician in Acts chapter 8 he was a sorcerer using the magic Arts to make a
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name for himself and to gather a following we read in there that some called him the great power of God but when he saw the
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disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit doing things that he thought oh I want that and he sought the Holy Spirit by money he wanted to pay and
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Peter said to him you have Wicked intentions you're caught in the gall of bitterness and the bond of
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iniquity one of the examples who arose in the 2 Century ad was a man by the name of Simon
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baruka his name means son of the star and he was named that because one of the prestigious rabbis saw the physical things that he could do and the way that he fought
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against the Roman oppression and I found this kind of unbelievable but they said of this man he was so physically strong
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that he could be riding a horse and grab a tree and uproot it from the ground why that's important I don't know they said he could physically take the Roman
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catapult and hold it by his hand to keep it from launching and yet this Rabbi said to the people look at him look at his exploits
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look what he is and then match that with number 2417 where it says a star shall appear from Jacob and this Rabbi
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AKA anointed Simon bar Koka as the
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Messiah and in the war against Rome in ad. 132 to 135 he fought valiantly but he was paranoid that the rabbis the Jews were against him and he had a popular
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Rabbi executed because he thought he was going to bring a plot against him and the Jews renamed Simon baruka the son of
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the Star as Simon barah son of the LIE he was found to be a false
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Messiah but as I say there are many in our world today who are like this who want to lead us astray who want to deceive us into
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believing something that is not true of God or of our Lord Jesus
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Christ and I'm not sure that I understand all of how those deceptions take place take place but I've looked at three things in terms of who Jesus Christ is and how that
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deception so that we follow the false Messiah the false Christ might take place people are seeking wisdom are they
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not the people are not all just all just AirHeads but we as humans we we want a
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visible manifest visible manifest ation of God an embodiment of God's love God's mercy God's
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faithfulness people need to believe in something even people who say they don't believe anything believe in in that and they want so much to follow
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something some cause or some person that they'll search until they find some cause or
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person to follow there there is that void in them to desire to have a
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cause to have someone to look up to and if they don't like the truth as it is in Jesus if they don't follow a true cause
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or a true person they'll seize some false cause or false person to fill that void it's just how humans think and how
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they react some cause some concept some person they deem worthy of worthy of recognition and they seize upon them and
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deceived well if they reject Jesus as the Christ as the one who reveals RS God to us showing us the father and what he is like people don't just remain in their
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dark place as some people call this they don't just they're not satisfied with having a void in their lives they will devise they will shape or construct or
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Elevate someone or some cause to fill that dark that dark space and the false prophets the false Messiahs the charlatans the actors the
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Fanatics the gods of this world know that they know that they have that void and they will seize the opportunity to fill it and they will deceive
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them various motives for seizing them some are out for just the cold hard cash some are out for power some for recognition and
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notoriety but what do we learn from acts 4 that it is said by Peter when we were children we were held in bondage under the elementary principles of the world
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and he goes on to say at that time when you did not know God you were slaves to those which by Nature are not Gods see the charlatans the Enders the false
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Messiahs know Messiahs know that they know that if they can find your weakness and your desire to fill that void with something or
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someone they can fill it they can bring a message that causes you to seize upon them and Peter says you were slaves to
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those which by Nature were no Gods you became slaves to them because you were deceived so how do we take heed I think we start by asking our self
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the question do we take the submission the submission the allegiance the honor due to L the Lord Jesus Christ and transfer that to others
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to other to other teachers to other guides to politicians to
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priests we may look up to others as helpful I'm not saying that we don't need teachers that we don't need guides that we don't need those to preach and
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teach and yet what do we learn from scripture we are to call no man our Master on Master on Earth we are not to call one father
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except our except our Lord the dangerous is not that Pretenders exist the danger is that we insist on submitting to them and giving ourselves
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to a false cause or a false person but our responsibility is to learn at the feet of Jesus learning not
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just to study but to form opinions about the world to manage our own time to manage our own
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decisions to seek wisdom from him who the scripture calls the wisdom from God and our righteousness and sanctification and
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Redemption Jesus Christ Alone is the revealer of God and his purposes on Earth take Earth take heed many will come in his name and say
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I am he because men are made in the image of God at at some
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level people long for things to be right they they recognize sin even though they may not
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call it call it sin they long for deliverance from sin's Dominion they they want things to be
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good and peaceful they want the re of sin of evil in our world to
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cease and yet many even Believers clash with God's answer they're they're like the Jews we need a sign or they're like the Greeks we we want some
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wisdom but they find God's answer the wisdom of the Cross is offensive to them even as we sang this morning the blood of Christ we sang of that which
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alone cleanses us from sin but men will resort to expedience to find reconciliation with God on their own terms they may listen to those who
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preach some vague generalities some who Proclaim weak after week from the pulpit God is love or God is merciful with with no meat
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with no with no Foundation of how they ought to deal with sin with sin first they look to human
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reason the car I didn't know you could get a license plate that says this in South Carolina there's about 80 choices if you look but apparently one of them it looked legitimate to me on the car I
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pulled up behind Friday afternoon it says at the very top in reason we trust not in God we trust in reason we
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trust they explain away sin they they're taught that the guilt guilt is an overreaction you're you're not that bad there there's no need for
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repentance it it doesn't really
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cancelling headphones they block out what they do not want to hear or they turn up the volume of the noise they are listening to to drown out the noise of the
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truth or as Alexander McLaren says they quote reason themselves into unbelief people do that they reason
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within themselves without turning to the scriptures without turning to God they they silence God's still Small
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Voice because what does it do it accuses them it points them to their error and they do not want to hear it and what is the result they try to be their own Advocate
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God when I look this up I I see that the phrase is first recorded somewhere in the 1600s but Abraham Lincoln had his own version of the phrase you've heard it before but this is what Lincoln
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said he who serves as his own counsel has a fool for a lawyer and a jackass for a for a client but people want to be their own
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Advocate before God they want to plead their own cause I've done this I've done this I've done this I have I haven't done this I haven't done this you should accept me and what does the scripture
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say if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he himself is the propitiation for our sins we have no other Advocate we we
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have no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and yet people listen to The False Christ who would say well I can reconcile you with
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God they they fall under the spell of someone who can say you know I'll pronounce you clean before God if you do these penances I will by this Ceremony this my
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sacramentalism will will do this Sacrament this ritual and then you'll be clean and just follow me I I will
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your go between you and God and again they're fed a lie they're fed a deception so that they do not believe the truth as it is in
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Jesus Paul spells it out clearly he made him Jesus who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him Christ Alone
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is the is the reconciler take reconciler take heed many will come and many many will be deceived let it be not
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you what is one of the greatest deceptions in our world today well we read particularly in Matthew of the woes in the olette
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discourse the wo to those who these things happen things happen to and the charlatans this pretending Messiah as the false Christ use these
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occasions of these woses for their pretentions we've read of them Wars famines earthquakes if you're like me I I looked at the headlines last
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night before I went to bed the Middle East is Ablaze with war again this
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morning and the pretend Messiahs use these things as judgments on people these are the judgments that will enter in usher in the appearing of the Lord I am here to pronounce these judgments and to
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save you people are constantly crying for solutions to the world's problems are they not I mean just think of of a of America we need more education we need
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to teach people we need more money for this program so that people will understand what's going on we we need reparations because we've been so
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oppressed we we need millions of dollars to to make these people feel like they're welcome here we need some kind of Fairness Act and and that will teach
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people how to live and how to get along and what do we know about all of these schemes one after the other they are doomed to
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doomed to failure because they do not address the is issues that people have of sin and the need for repentance and for the the
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need of regeneration the necessary regeneration of the human heart of stone into a heart
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of Flesh all of these schemes will be doomed to
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failure the recovery of the human heart Begins by recognizing Christ alone as Redeemer Christ alone as the regenerator of Hearts only in Christ is their newness of Life only in Christ is
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society redeemed only in Christ does transformation take transformation take place only in Christ can we ever say
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here we have men and women and children made new the warnings of Jesus are are real and again I think in these two verses
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he's addressing us as individual disciples take disciples take heed do not listen to these
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Pretenders see to it that you're aware of what they're saying and why it's
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deceptive I Think Jesus first of all before he gets into all of the things of this discourse all of the dangers all of the wos all of the things that makes our
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hearts tremble I think he's asking them first of all do you ask as John the Baptist asked Are You The Coming
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one or are we look to look for someone else do you question as many do who I
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am where does your loyalty
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lie Psalm 37 that we read this morning is a great comfort David saido not fret yeah evil doers will come they will come and try to deceive many but he says the EV evildoers will
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be cut off the wicked will be no more humble yourselves before the Lord and He will give you the desires of your
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heart in Matthew 15 we read of the blind guides and what does he say of the blind guides he says it in metaphorical terms every plant my father did not plant will
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be rooted up the blind guides the false Messiahs the pretending christs they'll be rooted up they will
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be gone do not listen to them the question that came to my mind as I looked at various scriptures settled on
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Luke 18 and it seems to capture the things that Jesus I think initially in this discourse wants to ask of his
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disciples knowing knowing that they're curious they want to know they their have their attention is riveted I think at this point on point on him the question that Jesus asks in Luke
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18 when the son son of man comes will he find faith on the earth let us pray Our Father we do ask that you would
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help us to understand these things help us to meditate upon these things but again that we would see to it that we study that we have our eyes open that we
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know what is being said around us that we'll understand the difference between these Pretenders and our Lord Jesus Christ and so we ask father that you
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would keep us that you would guard us that you would help us walk in a manner that is not only worthy of you but walks by faith faith and not by sight and so
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we ask these things in Christ's name amen you please rise for the
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benediction little bit lengthy but I think perhaps capture some of the spirit of the of the discourse from Galatians chapter 6 Paul writes but may it never be that I
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should boast accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world for neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new
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creation and those who walk by this rule peace and mercy will be upon them and upon the Israel of God