Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 642 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Thomas: All right let's go to Matthew 24. "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" You know this is very significant. I want you to notice this. "And Jesus answered and said unto them..." He didn't tell 'em what was what. He just, "...answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Isn't that significant?

( congregational amens ).

I think it is. I think He'd put what was most important to Him and that He knew the people needed. Don't you?

( congregational amens ).

That sounds, not only logical, it sounds right! There must have been a reason for it. I think this is good reasoning, and I believe that you'll agree with me. There's a reason for it. Let's start with how many splinters and splits...only God knows that...and different denominations we have. Jimmy there, informed me the other day that there's 2000 or more--probably more now, because if you wait 15 minutes there's gonna be some more.

( congregational amens ).

And only the Lord knows how many there are. But that's the one thing I wanted to emphasize there. And then in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2...and notice now, I want you to see the significance there in Matthew 24, one of the questions He asked 'em related to His coming. See? "...Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming..." 'Course they couched other things in it too, like, "...and of the end of the world?" I think they associated His coming with the end of the world. And I believe it is.

( congregational amens ).

But, anyway, that's exactly what we have here in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, and verse 1. "Now we beseech you, brethren..." This is Paul now, you see? I believe if he's led of the Lord and we take his epistles as bona fide inspiration, which they are, then he's got the same thing in mind. "Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him...." Note, now, he didn't have to put that on there. But he did. So he must be associating 'em together. Wouldn't you say so?

( congregational amens ).

All right. "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter..." In other words, it could be a spirit that would lead you wrong. The emphasis would be wrong. And it could be a word or by some letter or epistle. You see, salvation is a heart thing. Now, you might fool me, or you might fool somebody else, but you never fool God.

( congregational amens ).

'Cause He knows exactly what you mean. He knows whether you really mean anything from your heart. God always knows that. You don't cover up anything, by words, or by any other thing that you would do. You do not cover 'em up, because God sees all! His eyes run to and fro in the earth, beholding the good and the evil. And so, He sees us. He knows us.

We might even fool our wife. Might fool our husband. We might fool our mother or our father. We can have secret thoughts, and God hears them. In other words, you don't fool God, period. This has to do with the coming of Christ, too. And that's the very first thing that Jesus said. "Take heed that no man deceive you." Is that right?

( congregational amens ).

And here, Paul does the same thing. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first...." And then, of course, it mentions the man of sin. They've made a lot out of that. Why make so much out of it? We've got enough there to handle, as it is. I'll tell you who's the man of sin. It's this guy right here.

( congregational amens ).

He sure ain't no righteous man. He's anything but righteous. And you've got to have Christ in you to keep him down and to make him honest. "Let no man deceive you by any means..."--by any means, and yet we've got 2000 different ones...more--I think I can safely say more than 2000 now. Well, where did it come from? Somebody tell me. Everyone preaches what he preaches as though it's the last word. And that's what he preaches. Over 2000...where did they get their so-called revelation from? You know that's why it's called Babylon?

( congregational amens ).

You've got all kind of Babylon. You've got a political Babylon. One says, this is the way you need to do it. Another one says, this is the way. And another one says, this is the way, and right on. There's no end to the theories, and ideas, and the belief of men regarding anything. And that's certainly true of religion. I don't know of anything any more confusing that religion is out here to...I'm talking about a lost person--man, woman, boy or girl. Nothing is any more confusing than religion, because he says, I want to go to a church where it's right, where the preacher preaches the Truth. I want to go to a church where the people love the Lord, not just go there and sit, then do their thing the rest of the week. I want to go to a place where people are sincerely desirous of pleasing God.

( congregational amens ).

I want to go to a church where the preacher...he wants to preach the Truth. He wants to help people. And he don't withhold anything that would help 'em. He don't soft-pedal the things that'll please people, nor does He try to be too hard. That's wrong. He just needs to honest, don't he? He needs to be completely honest and open and want to help. If he isn't, there's something wrong with him. And I believe that's where your divisions come in. Who is the author of division?

-- Brother Jim Johnson: Satan.

-- Brother Thomas: That's exactly right. But, what about all this Babylon, then? Where did it come from?

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: "...Seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils..."

-- Brother Thomas: That's exactly right. That is correct. "...Seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils..." If you want to know the truth about it, religion as a whole is permeated with confusion and error. Somebody's got to be wrong.

( congregational amens ).

They can't everyone be right, but they everyone say they are. I think it just pays to preach the Truth that don't even say what is or what it ain't.

( congregational amens ).

The Truth, I'm talking about. Because if you've got 2000 and they're all saying they have the truth, it's got to be Babylon. That couldn't be the Truth. Now I believe this--there's innocent people in just about every movement. And I'll further say this--I believe that some of God's children are enmeshed in the systems of men. But they're God's children.

( congregational amens ).

That's right. They're saved because somehow or other...I don't care what they preach, but some way or other, they have trusted in Christ. They've trusted in what He did for 'em on the cross. Oh, I admit this. Jesus said, "...If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth..." will what?

-- Congregation: "...Make you free."

-- Brother Thomas: That's right. And the more of the Word you have in you, the freer you become, because that sets you free. My God, it opens the blind eyes, the closed doors, the locked doors and you don't have to worry because it's what God says. And God is a lot more tolerant of us than we are of each other.

( congregational amens ).

I'm not saying this now to give you courage to do evil or to let you think that I approve of it. Truth is Truth regardless of whether you do it or not. But if you get right in your heart, that's the main thing. If you get right in the heart and God sensitizes your conscience...I've got a conscience. You ought to have a conscience. In other words, you just can't go out here and deliberately and willfully do things wrong, can you? And knowing it's wrong and having a check in your conscience...'course you can't! Now, you can be mistaken and no doubt, multitudes are. Yet, they are saved by the grace of God because...do we have baby Christians?

-- Congregation: Yes sir, we do.

-- Brother Thomas: What did Paul mean there to the Corinthians? He said, I "...could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal..." And he tells you about their divisions. So, we have to acknowledge this fact. There are people today that's saved, but they're confused. They don't know what is right. They're not theologians. But they have a rest. They've entered into His rest. That rest is the presence of Christ. Hallelujah! I'm thankful for that.

( congregational amens ).

Thank God. And I believe that many times our reason for having that rest is the fact that we have fully trusted in Christ. We've trusted in Him...not our good works, not what the church tells us, not any...and I'll tell you another thing. I actually believe that experiences are a great hindrance. Here's why. You got one...he believes that you have three works of grace they call it--salvation, sanctification, Baptism of the Spirit.

And they say...and just as soon as you get saved. In fact, we had a young lady from our group...I don't know...she came a time or two. I think Carl brought her. But, anyway, then she went some place else. And, of course, they got her forward there. And they told her she was saved. And then they wrote her a letter 'cause she didn't come back the next time. And they told her, they wanted her to come on back now and get one of these experiences. That does not measure up to what the Word of God says.

"Beware lest any man spoil you..." Now note that. That don't mean lose your soul. 'Spoil' is something else. "...Lest any man spoil you..." And to be spoiled doesn't necessarily mean...but it just means to have something you don't need--some belief. And anytime you add some kind of an experience to your salvation or you go to a church or group of people that adds something--they say you've got to get saved, then you need this. That's what they told this young lady-said, you need to get this now. But you see, you're not complete in Jesus, if that's true. But it's not true.

( congregational amens ).

Here, let me quote the rest of that scripture. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit...after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him..."--Note this now--"...Dwelleth..."--what?

-- Congregation: "...All the fulness of the Godhead bodily..."

-- Brother Thomas: "...And ye are..."--what?

-- Congregation: "...Complete in him..."

-- Brother Thomas: Yeah, that's right. Are you complete?

( congregational amens ).

I'll tell you how complete I believe you are, and I know I'll get some flak back from this. But I mean 'in Him' now. I'm not talking about joining a church or having a little experience of some kind. I'm not talking about what you may do, or might do. I'm talking about entering into His rest.

( congregational amens ).

I'm talking about being born of His Spirit. Let me ask you. Can God die?

-- Congregation: No!

-- Brother Thomas: Well now, if you're born of His Spirit, what kind of life will you have?

-- Congregation: Eternal life.

-- Brother Thomas: Absolutely. Is God eternal?

( congregational amens ).

Why certainly! The only reason anybody's not saved when they hear this Gospel, is they don't want it. This old man wants to have his way. He wants to go on his way. He don't want to be bothered. He's comfortable. But that can't be the way for us. 'Cause to us, this is the Treasure hid in the field.

( congregational amens ).

It's the Pearl of great price. He's the Alpha and Omega.

( congregational praise ).

The bright and the morning Star. He has everything that we need. And we need Him! "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him..."

( congregational amens ).

I want to say this, too--and that means you're saved in spite of your imperfections. God don't save perfect people. The only ones' need saving is 'imperfect' people. That's the kind of people. They didn't like it--the Pharisees didn't...that was the self-righteous crowd. They do this...He eats with sinners. A woman come up there and was washing His feet. They said, if He knew what kind of woman this was, He wouldn't be letting her wash His feet. That's self-righteous! That's the very kind of people He died for.

( congregational amens ).

This is the one message that'll help sinners, because this is the Truth! Now I'm not talking about joining the church. You've got millions of people that belong to some kind of a church today. They don't know a thing about salvation--don't know anything about salvation. Praise God! I tell you what you've got to do. You've got to come to the place in your consideration of this thing where you say, live, swim, sink or drown, Lord, here I am...all my badness and all my goodness and all of me.

( congregational amens ).

That's all. There's nothing else you can do. No reservations! You don't say, Lord, I'll take you 'if' you'll do this. You don't bargain with God, either. You don't bargain with Him. You come to Him...what you are, like you are. I'm thankful, aren't you?

( congregational amens ).

I'm thankful, 'cause that gives me hope. It gives me hope. I don't have to get good enough to get saved. In fact, I have to be bad enough to get saved. That's the reason a lot of people don't get saved. They think that they got to get good. They're mistaken.

If you can't be convicted of your sins, how you gonna get saved? Have mercy upon me, a poor sinner. Jesus said, that man went down justified. He didn't do like this other fellow...I don't do this and I don't do that. I don't...like that publican over there. I'm just a poor sinner. I'm bankrupt. I don't have a thing. When you come to Jesus, you don't bring a thing, but you. That's all, just you.

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