If it sounds too good to be true

Scammers

We have all heard about people getting scammed out of thousands of dollars. The most ridiculous is where victims are told they have inherited millions of dollars and then told all they have to do is pay a portion of the attorney’s fee.

There have been people who have paid for that twice!

Another one is where the victim is selling something like a car on Craigslist and the potential buyer sends a check for more than the cost and asks the victim to deposit the check, keep their part and send the rest on.

Kidnapped relative scam in South America.

Now you ma get a text that your credit cards have been compromised and there is number to call where you can suspend the card. Of course they are going to ask for your credit card number when you call them.

My mom got a call once that said she was wanted on some warrants, but that she could pay the fine immediately over the phone.

All these scams pray on our greed, fears, pride, sense of kindness.

The only way you can fall for them is to allow yourself to be that gullible.

The Gospel

Matthew 10:16 NASB95

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

We talked about the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ. What the good news is, why we need to hear it, accept it, apply it and share it.

This morning I want to talk about what the gospel isn’t.

The Gospel doesn’t leave room for ANY other worldview or religious belief.

Oprah Winfrey said, “There can’t be only one way to God.”

John 14:6 NASB95

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Acts 4:12 NASB95

12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 3:36 NASB95

36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

1 Timothy 2:5 NASB95

5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Worldview:

Theism

Atheism

Pantheism

Major Religions

Christianity

Buddism

Hinduism

Judaism

Islam

Sikhism

Shinto

How can we confidently say that we are right and all the rest are wrong?

Faith - But not blind faith.

Christianity is the only religion that man isn’t trying to earn his place in paradise, but that God is providing the way.

Ravi Zacharius

Frank Turek

Do the research.

I don’t encourage you to look at other religions first. First examine the claims and evidence for Christianity.

But none of the claims scare me either.

Matthew 7:13–14 NASB95

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Highway to Hell

Stairway to Heaven.

There are false gospels

Fake and fooled people calling themselves Christians.

2 Corinthians 11:4 NASB95

4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

2 Corinthians 11:13

2 Corinthians 11:13–15 NASB95

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

Gospel of Permissive Grace

God loves you just the way you are.

God loves you unconditionally.

Unconditional love is not unconditional acceptance.

Jesus is described as the Lion and the Lamb

The Jews only wanted the Lion

Many people only want the Lamb.

Hebrews 10:31 NASB95

31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The Prosperity Gospel

If you trust in Jesus, pray the sinners prayer and of course give to the preacher you will be blessed with material, financial, and health blessings.

Matthew 7:7 NASB95

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matthew

Romans 8:28 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans

Ephesians 3:20 NASB95

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

Jeremiah 29:11 NASB95

11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Malachi 3:10 NASB95

10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

It ignores verses like

Luke 6:20 NASB95

20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Luke

Matthew 6:19–20 NASB95

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

And the entire book of Job

The Suffer for Success gospel

If you will just work hard enough, suffer long enough, give enough, do enough, that God will exalt you among His people.

2 Corinthians 11 NASB95

1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? 8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. 16 Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. 17 What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. 19 For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. 20 For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face. 21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? 30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, 33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

People who brag about how much they do for God.

The goals moves away from serving God but gaining glory for themselves.

Part of the gospel is not the gospel

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The Family - Netflix

Political power of a group of small conservative christians dating back to Dwight Eisenhower to today.

They put on the National Prayer Breakfast.

It is a fair look with both pro and con views.

The disturbing part was that the encouraged the men involved to only read the four gospels and acts.

You could spend the next 10 years only reading those and be the better for it. But what you have to watch out for is anything else creeping in.

In the absence of the context of the OT and the theology of the rest of the NT you can drift ever so slightly away from the purpose of the gospels.

1 John 4:1 NASB95

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 NASB95

21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;

Don’t believe me.

Matthew 7:

Matthew 7:21–23 NASB95

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’