Conclusion
The false pastors lie. They preach the false gospel. They steal the word of God and mixes their false ideas with His word and preach it. They are so cleverly preaching that the truth is mixed with lies to the extent that members of the church cannot distinguish them. Their sermons look like the truth. But they are actually preaching something crafty in their heart. Therefore, they continue to produce church members who have mixed faith. Not only that, the false pastors spread cheap grace. They deliver a flattering lesson to scratch the itching ears of false believers who hear and follow lies. The false pastors speak false words of comfort. They don’t proclaim God's words of warning and of rebuke. And they don’t preach the God’s holy words that point out and reveal sins to the members of the church who are committing sins. In other words, the false pastors aren’t preaching the word of repentance to the church members who are committing sins. Rather they are preaching ‘a sermon of blessing’, ‘a sermon of comfort’, and ‘a sermon of healing.’ They are encouraging unrepentant members to continue sinning. The false pastors are empowering the church members to continue to sin. The reason is because the false pastors themselves continue to sin against God.
The false pastors are indulged in all kinds of greed and covetousness. They are addicted to money and women and fame. Therefore, in their spiritual stupor, they lost the ability to discern between the holy and the profane. Also, false pastors are arrogant and proud of themselves against God. They seem to boast of God with their lips, but with their heart they are proud of themselves and the size of their church members. The more these false pastors become, the more they are sinning against God. The more false pastors who don’t know God, the more false pastors who have abandoned the truth and the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more false pastors who have stopped following the Lord and are deceived by an adulterous heart, they commit sins. Therefore, the false pastors are dishonoring God not only among the saints, but also in this world.
The true pastor speaks the truth. Now, the true pastor is growing in the knowledge of God. He presses to know God. He is committed to God, His word, and prayer. He meditates on the word of God day and night. He enjoys tasting the honey of God's word. The true pastor listens to the word of God. And he diligently examines himself in the spiritual mirror, the word of God. Therefore he confesses his sins to God with his conscience pierced in his heart by His word, the sword of his Spirit. And he sheds tears of repentance before God. And he sheds tears of gratitude and devotion for God's grace. He learns obedience by suffering. He lays down his own will and only prays that the will of the Lord be done. He draws near to God and ministers before Him. The reason is because the true pastor remembers the grace of God.
The true pastor preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. He works hard to spread the gospel by the power of God's grace. He faithfully proclaims the word of God that is like fire that melts the hardened hearts of the saints and like the hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. He diligently preaches the word of God to lead the saints to the right path. He preaches His word as it is, whether people listen or not. Even in the presence of church members who like to listen to sermons that scratch their itching ears according to their greed, the true pastor doesn’t add or subtract from God's word, but preaches it as it is. The true pastor boldly proclaims the word of God, even though he clearly knows that they will hate him. Therefore, he turns sinful saints from evil ways and evil deeds. The reason he does this is because he fears God and is not afraid of people.
‘Lord, I want to be a true pastor. Please make me a true pastor.’