How to Recognize False Teachers (Part Three)

How to Recognize False Teachers ( Jude, Part Three)

Jude 13-25

Introduction:

Over the past few weeks, we have begun to examine Jude’s warnings regarding false teachers and false brethren. He has given examples and has warned of the coming judgment. Here, in verses 13-19, he continues to describe such individuals by the fruits of their words and lives.

Characteristics of False Teachers

¹³Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Some such men are very vocal and public about their stance, John says they are “raging waves of the sea. ” Waves of the “raging” sort only cause damage. Storm waves are truly spectacular. Some people make special trips to the coast to watch the violence of the storm-driven waves in the winter. But such watchers usually know enough to stay out of the reach of those waves, for fear of their lives. People who get up close for a “special photo” often become casualties.

Human Movements and Waves of Unrest

Similarly, people who join movements that God did not originate eventually become part of the sad wreckage those movements bring. Even genuine believers can become distracted by the affairs of the world, and often become “shipwrecked,” unable to function as believers, because they have abandoned the path that God offered them. They have become judicially blind, and they are now unable to see His light. They unwittingly worked for the enemy, just as Samson did: He was physically blinded, and enslaved by the enemy, because of his own bad decisions.

There are deceitful leaders, who claim the mantle of “religion,” but who only use the church as a political platform. They start Political Action Committees, and Social Reform movements. They draw others to follow them, and they stir up people to anger and unrest.

In some cases, their activity may turn out well, in the short run, but often, there was a hidden agenda. The founder of the movement turns out to be “not as advertised.” They sought money, power, or fame, and often had a “secret life” that gave the lie to everything they said they believed. Sadly, when they are exposed, it also gives “ammunition” to those who claim that “all Christians are hypocrites.” They give unbelievers cause to feel more secure in their unbelief.

We are warned to stay out of the reach of such “waves” and movements. We are commanded to follow Jesus.

Wandering Stars

The phrase “wandering stars” is actually in reference to “planets.” (The Greek phrase is “asteres planetai”) They look like stars, but they do not maintain a reliable position in the sky, and (at that time) they could not be used for celestial navigation.

Today we have reliable predictions as to where in the sky a given planet should be at any given time. So, if a person wanted to use a planet for navigation, they could do so, but with great caution. But, at that time, though the planets looked like very bright stars, people could not use them for navigation, as they kept changing their relative positions in the sky.

Recently, Ann and I noticed some bright lights, to the east of us, low in the sky, hours after sunset. I first thought that they were planets, and I wondered which planets they were. But these were more unreliable than planets: They were the landing lights of distant aircraft, facing toward us, so that we had to watch carefully, to see their movement. It was fun to watch the steady stream of aircraft moving into the landing approach pattern, but we can never use such lights to guide our walk on earth. They are not in a stable location in the sky.

Don’t get your directions in life from a false teacher! They might seem to be “shining lights,” but if they are not directing you right back to the Word of God, they are unreliable guides.

God addresses false teachers quite sternly, both here and in 2^nd Peter 2. Here, it says that, because they have rejected the light of God’s Word, and because they have taught others to do so, what awaits them is the blackness of darkness forever. What a grim, terrifying statement!

So, How Do We Learn to Spot a False Teacher?

We do so by learning God’s Truth so intimately that any divergence away from His Word is immediately obvious! And the only way to do that is to deliberately, consistently, feed yourself on His Word. Study it, in orderto root yourself securely in His truth. Allow His Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Word. Go to Him in Prayer, seeking His face, to learn His ways.

Then, when a false teacher opens his or her mouth, your spirit will receive the warning “nudge” of the Holy Spirit, alerting you to listen very carefully: there is something wrong!

Reference to Enoch

Here is another apocryphal quotation. The Book of Enoch is not part of the Canon of scripture. But John uses it to remind us that judgment is coming. All through scripture He repeats the reminder, that God is still the Majesty on high, and He is the Omnipotent, Holy Judge.

¹⁴And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

¹⁵To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

The clear message here is that “no one is ‘getting away with’ anything.” Judgment is coming! Jesus is the Eternal Judge, as well as our Savior. He is the Eternal Judge of all the Earth, as revealed in Genesis 18:25, and John 5:22. He is the coming King, in Revelation 19, arriving to destroy the enemies, and to exact judgment on the Earth.

Observe the Character of False Teachers

¹⁶These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

They murmur against God, and cannot be content. These people pursue their own interests and desires, good or bad, and they do not focus on the things of God. They are great talkers: They use inspiring words, to impress people, and to influence others to think the way they do.

Other translations render this last phrase as, “they seek admiration from other men, and give their admiration to others, to gain advantage.” They seek social advantage and influence, and are willing to say and do the things that gain that advantage.

We Have Been Warned

¹⁷But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

In our times we have watched the stream of televangelists who have become incredibly wealthy through their preaching. Journalists have caught some in their lies and some in their immorality, and their hypocrisy. But it did not stop them: they kept right on preaching and condemning those who exposed them.

God warned us that they were coming. And the world has flocked after such leaders, openly applauding them for their excesses, and extolling them as “men of God.”

Conclusion, Response of the Believers

So…What are We Supposed to Do?

Jude switches his focus from pointing out the coming hazards and the coming judgment, to giving us final instructions as to how to live in the age of apostasy, when everything around us is collapsing into unbelief and apathy.

First: How do We Respond to God?

What are we to do, to pursue our relationship with Him? (verses 20 and 21)

²⁰But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, ²¹Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Building up (edifying) yourself in your holy faith (Do the things that God says edify believers)
Praying in the Holy Spirit. (Fervent, honest prayer, pouring your heart out before the Lord, and depending on the Holy Spirit to direct your thoughts.)
Keep yourselves in the Love of God. It is our responsibility to direct our love back toward God, who is the origin of the Agapé love. (1^st John 4:7-21)
Look for the Mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life. We look only to Jesus for eternal life. We recognize that it is only by His Mercy and Grace that He does not condemn us for our sins. God calls us to continually turn our eyes toward Him, and seek His Mercy and Grace by which to live.

Then: How do We Respond to Those Around Us?

²²And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

In the context of having warned us of ungodly teachers and deceivers, it would seem that the “some” here, must refer to unbelievers around us, though some assume it is referring to correcting sinning believers.

If we see this passage (verses 22, 23) as being about evangelism (which makes sense, as that is what the Lord left us here to do!) then we may see three categories of sinners:

One

On some, having compassion: “…making a difference” This is a strange phrase, and it is rendered differently in different translations. The distinction (difference) mentioned may be that the person on whom they are having compassion may be “making distinctions” or doubting, arguing against the gospel, or questioning the truth of God’s Word. (Some commentators see it that way.) But it sounds as though we are the ones who are called to be discerning. We may discern that a person’s doubts only amount to excuses for unbelief. We may “challenge their thinking” by using the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit; gently reminding them that they are running out of time.

Two

“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire…” There may be some that require rather drastic urging, warning them of the coming judgment. Jesus spent far more time warning of the coming Judgment and a literal Hell, than He did describing the Joys of Heaven.

Three

…hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. There may be some that require us to exercise great caution to avoid our being drawn into the sin that is enslaving them. This has frequently happened to believers who attempted to “get close to someone” as an avenue of approach for the Gospel. They tried to “become relevant” to ungodly people by joining them in their activities.

But eventually they found that in doing so, they had wandered away from their own walk with God, and were ensnared by sin, themselves. They ruined their own testimony and instead of “becoming relevant” by joining the world, they became completely irrelevant, as there is no distinction between their life and the lives of the ones whom they are attempting to reach. Bear in mind that light dispels darkness. How? by being the opposite of darkness, not by joining it. Light exposes the deeds of darkness for what they are.

Jude’s Final Benediction

Jude closes his letter by blessing the believers, and by committing them unto the care of God. He blesses God, and declares that all Glory belongs to Him.

²⁴Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

God is the One who keeps us from falling. He is the One who will present us faultless before His throne. He is to be our eternal Joy, as Our Savior and Our God.

²⁵To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Lord Jesus, as You are making us intensely aware of the darkness of the World around us, draw us deeper into Your Light and deeper into Your Truth, so that we truly shine in that darkness, reflecting Your Light, and so that we will have answers for the doubts of those who ask a reason for our faith.

November 15, 2025November 15, 2025

How to Reliably Recognize False Teachers

Part Two: Judgment is coming

Jude 8-13

Introduction:

Last week we began exploring the book of Jude. We only got through the first seven verses. Jude exhorted the true believers to contend for the faith. Why? Specifically because he said there were certain false teachers who had infiltrated the church. Jude listed examples of Old Testament groups God judged for their behavior, connected with unbelief and deliberate disobedience.

Some were believers: Humans, who initially embraced God’s Promise. But they ultimately rejected His command to enter the promised land, and they denied the validity of His promise. They looked at “current events and circumstances,” and chose to reject the promise. So, He denied them the privilege of receiving His promise, and gave it to their children instead.

Some fallen angels, chose to “Go one step further:” They interbred with humans, according to Genesis 6:1-5. God judged these Angels uniquely: Unlike the rest of the fallen angels, their judgment has already fallen. They are in eternal chains, in darkness, awaiting final judgment in the lake of fire.

Some were unbelieving humans: who flagrantly despised both the truth of God, and His holiness. God destroyed them for their immorality and violence.

Jude goes on to describe the “current crop of false brethren.” He said, these likewise “defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Beginning A List of Examples

⁸Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Once again, this is nothing new. Romans 1:21-32 describes the pattern of behavior and the continual deterioration of morality and faith, within the Human Race. The pattern hasn’t changed. Humans still follow this pattern! We wallow in our sin, and we proudly say things like, “Ain’t nobody tells me what to do!” I knew, a man, supposedly a believer, who told me those exact words. He angrily declared himself to be the only authority in his life.

People feel free to excuse or deny their own sins, saying they are just following their heart: they say, “God made me this way!”

Additionally, and even more common: We humans (including believers) feel pretty free to slander politicians we don’t like, as well as other people in authority. We make skits on television mocking the leaders of our country. We have zero respect for the office they hold, let alone the person in question.

Unbelievers even go so far as to mock the Lord himself. They mock His Word with impunity, and make gross allegations against Him, sometimes very publicly. They write books and movies depicting Jesus as a grossly sinful hypocrite.

Jude included examples from outside the Bible as well as from within scritpture.

Extra-biblical Examples

⁹Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

This is a peculiar comment…it stands alone in scripture. There is no other reference to this event. All we know for certain about the body of Moses (other than this snippet) is that GOD buried the body of Moses, and no one has ever known where.

This quote is actually from an apocryphal text, claiming an argument regarding the burial of Moses’s body. The original text has no authority. Jude used it as an example of how we should treat high rank with respect. The military practices the same concept: The concept is, “we salute the rank, not the man.”

And, that is pretty much all we can use it for. We recognize and respect the authority of the badge, for example, even when the person wearing it is acting in an unrespectable manner.

But regarding this specific Biblical incident, please read Deuteronomy 34:5, 6. God says that He buried Moses’s body, and that no human knows where it is. Make of it what you will.

This is not a unique occurrence in scripture. Writers cited extrabiblical sources to support an argument in several other places. Paul did so in Acts 17:28 as well as in Titus 1:12. We may be uncomfortable with that fact, but it remains a fact. (Jude does it again in verse 17.)

More Examples

¹⁰But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

Jude says, effectively, that these people are acting as though they are animals, without a consciousness of right or wrong: Without an awareness of a sovereign God’s authority over them. I once witnessed a male robin, fighting his own reflection in a shiny hubcap. It was funny to watch, but that bird was not playing. He was attacking something he could not understand.

Jude says, these people speak evil of things they know nothing about. People have defiantly declared to me that “The Bible is nothing but fairytales!” I said, “You have not read it at all, so you don’t know what you’re talking about” They were angry, but they couldn’t respond. It was true! They did NOT know. It didn’t change their thinking, but it was the end of the argument.

I remember someone telling me the same thing, years earlier: but my response was to go home thinking, “Well, then! I’ll just read that book, and then I’ll show ‘em!” I would like to hope that the man I spoke to responded in similar fashion, but, so far as I know, he did not. God’s Word affected my life, even though I read it as an unbeliever, seeking only to argue against it. But eventually, it convicted me, and brought to me to the Cross.

¹¹Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Jude lists three examples in one verse:

Cain tried to circumvent his own guilt as a sinner: He avoided a blood sacrifice. He failed to satisfy God, with a bloodless sacrifice. Cain attacked Abel (whom God already accepted on the basis of that blood sacrifice,) and he killed him! This has been a pattern throughout history, as well. The people of the unbelieving world, especially the unbelieving religionists, hate the believers who follow Jesus.

God says Balaam was a real prophet, a real believer. But Balaam sold out and was killed. Today we only remember Balaam for betrayed Israel, in direct disobedience to God. He ran after money and fame and power, and was destroyed with the unbelieving enemies of Israel.

Core (Old Testament spelling “Korah”) in Numbers 16:1-35, defied Moses as the appointed authority, assuming that Moses was promoting himself as the leader, when in fact, God had not only appointed him, but He had proven it over and over, in supernatural ways.

It is Insanely Bad Judgment to Usurp Authority!

It is astonishing to me that Korah and his comrades could just assume that they could “take over,” and that God would empower them in similar fashion. Moses had already predicted the supply of manna from God: He had already brought water from the rock. He had already led them through the supernaturally parted Red Sea. But somehow Korah still thought he could usurp that authority, and gain the power and position: He led more than 250 others to do the same.

The Earth opened, and it swallowed Korah and his closest comrades, so that they fell alive into Hell, along with their families and all their belongings. And all those who followed Korah (the other 250 men) died supernaturally, as fire shot out from the LORD, from within the tabernacle, and burned them up where they stood! (Wow!)

And Jude likens the false teachers in the Church to those usurpers in the Old Testament.

The Character of these False Teachers, and False Christians

¹²These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

False believers have frequently infiltrated the church. They pretend to be one of the flock. They feed with the flock, amusing themselves that we can so easily be deceived. Jude says they are like a diseased spot among us…a cancer, perhaps.

2^nd Peter 2:13 says “¹³And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

And we are easily deceived, because we want to believe the best of people. We want to think they are true brothers and sisters in Christ. But, they think it is fun…a game, to see how they can deceive Christians.

What Other Signs of False Teachers Can We See?

Jude says they are waterless clouds: they billow and show promise of rain, but they do not deliver. They simply blow around, attrracting attention, obscuring the sun, but not bringing rain. He says they are trees whose fruit withers before it becomes edible. They produce nothing of value. Such trees produce no fruit, specifically because there is no root. They are not rooted in Christ. Their “religion” is all a product of their own works, not Him working through them.

¹³Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Some become quite vocal and public about their stance: John says they are like “raging waves of the sea”. Waves of that sort only cause damage: Storm waves are spectacular, to be sure, and people make special trips to the coast to watch the violence of the storm-driven waves. But such watchers usually know enough to stay out of the reach of those waves, for fear of their lives. People who get up close for a “special photo” often end up as casualties.

What Happens to the People They Mislead?

People who mistakenly join movements that are not of God eventually become part of the wreckage those movements bring. Even genuine believers who become distracted by the affairs of the world often become “shipwrecked,” unable to function as believers, because they have abandoned the path that God offered them. They have become judicially blind, and they are now unable to see His light. They were unintentionally working for the enemy, just as Samson was: He was physically blinded, and enslaved by the enemy, because of his own bad decisions.

There are deceitful leaders, who claim the mantle of “religion,” but who only use the church as a political platform. They start Social Reform movements, and Political Action Committees. In some cases, the activity may turn out well, but often, it turns out there was a hidden agenda, and the founder of the movement turns out to be “not as advertised.”

They sought money, power, or fame, and often had a “secret life” that gave the lie to everything they said they believed. Unfortunately, when they are exposed, they also give “ammunition” to those who claim that “all Christians are hypocrites.” They give unbelievers cause to feel more secure in their unbelief.

We are warned to stay out of the reach of such “waves” and movements. We are commanded to follow Jesus.

What are Wandering Stars?

The phrase “wandering stars” is actually in reference to “planets.” (The Greek phrase is “asteres planetai”) They look like bright stars, but they do not maintain a reliable position in the sky, and could not (at that time) be used for celestial navigation.

Today we have reliable predictions as to where in the sky a given planet should be at any given time, so, if a person wanted to use a planet for navigation, they could do so, but with great caution. But, at that time, though the planets looked like very bright stars, they were utterly unreliable for navigation, as they kept changing their relative positions in the sky.

Don’t get your directions in life from a false teacher! They might seem to be “shining lights,” but if they do not direct you straight back to the Word of God, they are unreliable guides.

False teachers are addressed quite sternly both here and in 2^nd Peter 2. Here, it says that, because they have rejected the light of God’s Word, and because they have taught others to do so, what awaits them is the blackness of darkness forever. What a grim, terrifying statement!

So, How Do We Learn to Spot a False Teacher?

By learning God’s Truth so intimately that any divergence from His word is immediately obvious! And the only way to do that is to deliberately, consistently, feed yourself on His word: Studying, in orderto root yourself securely in His truth. Allow His Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Word. Go to Him in Prayer, seeking His face, to learn His ways.

Then, when a false teacher opens his or her mouth, your spirit will receive the warning “nudge” of the Holy Spirit, alerting you to listen very carefully: there is something wrong!

Lord Jesus, please guard our hearts and teach us to walk with You, learning Your truth, absorbing Your Word, to protect us against the enemy of our souls. Make us lights in the dark world, faithfully reflecting Your Light, in our lives.

October 4, 2025October 4, 2025

Balance the Truth of God’s Judgment with the Love of Christ

2nd John: A Letter to “The Elect Lady”

2^nd John 1-13

Introduction:

The book of 1st John was “a letter to the children.”

The book of 2^nd John is a letter to “the Elect Lady.” Who is she? God does not tell us.

There are several possibilities: She could have been someone John knew, personally, in whose home believers were meeting. We don’t know for certain whether the “Elect Lady” was an actual woman, or if John was addressing a local church, in the feminine form, as a portion of the Body of Christ: The Bride.

Whether an individual or a local assembly, His message includes an Emphasis on Truth, as a foundational concept. It includes a Reminder of the Commandment of Christ, and a Warning against joining in the works of false teachers. All three are directly applicable today. So, we can take these teachings and apply them to our own lives.

A Strong Emphasis on Truth

Notice that, in the first four verses, John emphasized “Truth” five times. We frequently hear people claim that “God’s Primary attribute is Love,” because of 1^st John 4:7, 8, where it states that “God is Love”…but the rest of the Bible makes it clear that His Primary Attribute is Holiness. And His truth goes right along with that Holiness.

In Numbers 23:19, God says, “God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of a man, that He should repent.” Remember, too, that Jesus did not say, “I am the way, the Love and the Life.” He said, “I am the way, the TRUTH and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Me.” Jesus also said, in John 4:24, that “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Jesus said, in John 8:32, “Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” So it seems we cannot over-stress the importance of the Truth of God’s Word.

¹The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

We can easily forget that Jesus said He is the truth. If we remember that, then we see that John said He loved this person (or persons) in Christ. Further, he said that anyone else who had an ongoing relationship with that Truth (Jesus) would love her, too!

Remember: 1^st John 4:11, 12 says, “¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. ¹²No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Truth is the Ground and Basis of Faith.

John says that the reason we love each other is for the truth’s sake. Specifically for the sake of the Truth which now dwells in us. In John 14:16-23, we see that the Holy Spirit will live in us forever, and that, in the person of the Spirit of God, Jesus (God the Son) AND God the Father have made their abode with us!

²For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. ³Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. ⁴I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

According to John 1:17, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ. God reveals the truth. We believe Him, trusting in His Word, as opposed to believing the countless contrary voices around us in the World: And He calls that trust “Faith.”

On the basis of that faith, He declares us righteous, just as He did Abram. God calls this “Justification.” It means that God has declared you righteous. But He only does so on the basis of faith in His Word. In Romans 3:25, God makes it very specific: He says that salvation is based upon faith in the Blood of Jesus.

Jesus is the Living Truth

John confirms, here, that the Truth (Jesus) “dwells in us” (verse 2) and that “He shall be with you forever!” But, he also says that in addition to “knowing the truth” (verse 1), he asks us to “walk in the truth” (verse 4.) Walking in the truth builds greater faith.

Romans 1:17 says that as we continue in the Gospel of Christ, the Righteousness of God is revealed “from faith to faith.” Obedience to God, by faith, allows us to see the Righteousness of God, which, in turn, builds greater faith. 1^st John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of Life.”

A Reminder of the Commandment of Christ

⁵And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

⁶And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

John reminds the “elect lady” (whoever she is…I lean somewhat toward it being an actual person, though unnamed…but it could be a church.) He reminds her that we still have the same commandment Jesus gave from the beginning: That we are to exercise agapé love toward our fellow believers. And our blessing lies in obedience to that command.

But there may have been an ongoing trend within that church, (or that family) to receive “anyone and everyone” as if they were Godly teachers. The warning that follows this blessing is in stark contrast to the extensive message expounding the agapé love in 1^st John. He says there are some limitations as to how we are to receive traveling teachers. We are not to assume they are all Godly teachers, sent by God.

Why The Warning? False Teachers Abound!

(Compare 1^st John 4:1-3) The Spirit of Antichrist is already at work in the World, and we are called to discern that voice of evil when it arises. And the “litmus test” of false teachers, is their doctrine:

What Do They Do With Jesus?

Is He literally God in the flesh? Did He have a real, flesh-and-blood, physical, human body that God sent Him to offer as a sacrifice (God’s chosen sacrifice) in order for us to be saved? And was He physically, bodily, resurrected as predicted? Is He reigning as God the Son today? Is He coming back, physically, literally, and visibly, as He predicted?

All the false religions and cults (that I am aware of) deny the deity of Christ. They deny that He truly is God in the Flesh. Also, they deny that He is the Eternal Judge, as well as the only Savior. They deny the reality of the Virgin Birth, as well as denying the literal resurrection.

Such people are turning away sinners from salvation: They turn people away from the living God, and away from the Cross of Christ: They supplant the Grace of God with the Works of Religion!

⁷For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

(Notice that there is a danger of losing rewards!) This seems to be a core message in the letter: He warned the recipients that they could ruin their own testimonies by consorting with false teachers. And that it was possible to lose the rewards they otherwise would gain through obedience to and respect for, the truth of the Gospel.

So, What Should We Do?

⁹Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: ¹¹For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

He states categorically that those who do not abide in this doctrine of Christ do NOT have God! This is the way we can sort out the false teachers from the faithful brothers. There is a serious warning here, against “supporting” false teachers by any means, or fellowshipping (partnering) with them.

We are not even so much as to offer a blessing to them. Galatians 1:6-9 says how God feels about people teaching a false Gospel. He says, “Let them be accursed!” So, why would you want to help them or bless them, in activities that God has already cursed? We must not join them in their sin, nor allow our testimony to be muddled or contaminated, by mixing with them.

Think Carefully About Who You Support!

This is one of the reasons we think carefully as a church, about what sort of missionary work we support. It is also an appropriate warning against receiving false teachers into your home, as if they were the honest messengers of God. 1^st John 4:1-3 says to “test them!” Ask them what they teach concerning these fundamental truths of God’s Word. And, if they seem to be “hedging” or “acting coy” about what they teach, take notice! If they are not willing to give a straight answer, then you must recognize that as a warning. They are not dealing in truth.

We actually had such a man as a pastor, years ago. He was teaching things that caused us to wonder whether he believed the Bible was God’s Word. So, we asked him outright: “Do you believe the Bible is the Word of God?” He hedged, saying, “I believe the Bible is completely trustworthy!” But that did not answer the question!

So, we asked again, with emphasis: “Do you believe the Bible is THE Word of God?” This time we got a straight answer: “Of course I don’t!” (We were shocked!)

But, then we knew what we were dealing with: He was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and he was turning people away from Jesus. This is the kind of question a believer must be willing to ask, and to demand a straight answer from a professed “teacher of the Bible.”

Personal Contact is Important

¹²Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

John recognized that, in general, personal contact, face to face, is more effective than a letter. There is nothing wrong with a written communication, and for some things it is far superior: You can always “go back and review” what was actually said, in writing. There is far less ambiguity, and little room for doubt. But between friends and as a personal teacher, his personal contact would be a greater comfort and a deeper influence on the other believers.

¹³The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.

This is one of the verses that makes me lean toward believing that it may have been an individual believer to whom he wrote, but I could see it meaning a local assembly, as well. Either way, it points out the unity in the Body of Christ at large.

The Outreach is Worldwide

We have brothers and sisters in Kenya and in Pakistan, who pray for us regularly, and who are thrilled at what the Lord is doing through our little church, as we are thrilled at what He is doing in theirs. We greet them, and bless them. They greet us and bless us, sending us photographs and testimonies of the believers there, rejoicing in God’s Word. And we rejoice with them!

Last night, the two primary leaders in Pakistan called me, in a video call, thanking us for the teaching they have received and for the Audio Bibles our church has been sending. They have been faithfully delivering those Bibles to the poor people in the slave camps in Pakistan.

Those leaders said that their church prays faithfully for our church and for the leaders here. They are taking the things they learn through us, and they are re-teaching it to younger believers who will also take it seriously, and who will go on to teach others. It was a joy to visit with them, to share the blessings, and to fellowship in the Word of God.

This is the Church, worldwide, looking to bless one another in Christ! That is what we do!

Lord Jesus, allow us to immerse ourselves in Your Work, and in Your Joy. Change our focus and make us true disciples of the Living Christ.

July 26, 2025July 26, 2025

Do You Know How to Recognize a False Teacher?

A Letter to the Children (Part 10)

1^st John 4:1-6

Introduction

John gives another warning against false teachers, here. But he couches it in terms that can be confusing. He says, “try the spirits.” We saw in Ephesians 6:10-18 that there is a war in progress. He says that our enemies are spiritual beings. The human individuals seeming to be our enemies are simply the unwitting victims. They are tools of the real enemies. God gives us a test. Is the human agent speaking by the Spirit of God, or as an agent of the enemy?

For years, I have read and re-read this passage, and found it very confusing. How do you get a “spirit” to confess anything?

Thirty years ago, a teacher claimed to use this verse to check for demon possession. He said he addressed the person, saying, “I want to speak to your spirit!” Then, depending on their response, he demanded, “Do you confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?” And their “spirit” verbally responded, “No!” He claimed thereby to determine that the person “had a demon.” But there are some problems with this:

In the first place, nowhere else in scripture can we see such a thing is even possible, let alone a recommended practice. (Regarding demon possession, there is no mention in the epistles at all, either in how to detect it, or how to evict such a spirit, if we knew it was there!)

In the second place, consider the remote context, 1^st John 2:18-20, and the immediate context, 1^st John 4:1, 3-6. Both suggest that the issue, rather than detecting demon activity, is about detecting false teachers and false brethren. And, in both places he referenced multiple “antichrists.”

But, What Does He Mean, When He Says to “Try the Spirits?”

¹ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

So, we immediately see, in verse one, that the key phrase is “many false prophets.” False teachers, and false prophets are one of the plagues of the church age. And it seems that one of the key clues in “spotting false teachers” is, “What do they teach about the incarnation?”

²Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

If we simply see the name “Jesus Christ” as His “first and last name,” then the question, “Did He come in the flesh” would be akin to asking whether Robin Hood ever existed. Or better yet, asking whether some modern celebrity was ever born. It becomes a silly question. God does not “ask silly questions,” so, He must intend the question to go deeper.

What Is He Really Saying?

John is asking whether the Savior, the Messiah, actually was “God in the Flesh.” Was He truly the Creator God, who alone was the “offended party” because of our collective sin? More to the point (as we recently read, in 1^st John 3:16) did He, as God, choose to become a man, live a perfect life, and arrange to become the only possible sacrifice for the sins of the Human Race?

Did Jesus, as the Immortal, Eternal God, choose to take upon Himself mortal flesh, and die in our place to satisfy the righteous demand of His Own Holiness? That is the question!

And, as we have seen throughout the years, this is one consistent mark of all the cults: They absolutely deny the full Deity of Christ. Some will “hedge,” and try to say that He was a “lesser God” or a “manifestation of God.” Most conclude that “He was a wonderful man, and a great teacher: A genuine prophet, perhaps…but not God!”

The Spirit of Antichrist

³And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

This is another puzzling passage, as it uses the word “antichrist,” and we are primarily familiar with that word as used to describe the Antichrist: The person described in Revelation 13:1 and following. (Some think it is only a political entity…but it surely seems to be a person, to me!)

Since we primarily understand the word, “antichrist” in that prophetic context, and since John is the only New Testament writer to use that word, we need to reexamine what the word means.

**What Does “Antichrist” Mean?**

The prefix “Anti-” usually means “against.” But it can also mean a “replacement.” Theologians use the paired words, “type” and “antitype.” There is no question of conflict or evil: It means something in the Old Testament which is a prefiguring of something (or someone) in the New Testament. ( A GOOD something!)

The Ark in Genesis is a “type” (a prefigure, or photograph: The old term would have been “tintype,” when photography was in its infancy.) It is an Old Testament picture of Christ. So, Jesus, then, is the “antitype:” (He is the “real thing.”)

Noah’s Ark reflects the truths of the Messiah in about eighteen different ways, and Jesus fulfilled all of them. So, in terms of our focus of attention, we have shifted our gaze away from a gigantic wooden barge, (with the capacity to offer shelter and salvation to those who trusted in it,) to a miraculous incarnation…a Person!

Who Is the Person?

That Person has the capacity to save all who trust in Him. In Him we have security for eternity. He bore the judgment of God, and He rose above it, just as did the Ark. There is only One Way in: after you entered, God closed the door, ! Once you enter His Grace, by faith, He will never lose you! The list goes on and on. Jesus is the Antitype, as the perfect fulfillment of all that the Ark predicted.

Want one that will really boggle your mind? 1^st Corinthians 10:4 states categorically that the Rock in the Desert, from which 2.4 million Israelites (and all their herds!) received the water to survive …WAS Christ. And it was accompanying them through the desert! He doesn’t even say it was a “figure of Christ:” He says, “that Rock was Christ!” Think on that one for a while!

What about Negative meanings?

But, we are looking for a “negative sense” of the prefix “anti-.” And Both possibilities are open: The spirit of antichrist is the spirit in the world, today, that tries to thwart and contradict any teaching regarding one’s personal need for a Savior, and particularly, any teaching revealing Jesus as God in the Flesh: The Creator, willingly dying for His Creation! The spirit of antichrist stands against all Biblical teaching regarding the incarnation, and against any teaching of our clearly stated individual need for such a Person as our Savior.

Many False Christs

However, the history of our world is also full of “false messiahs:” Replacement messiahs. There have been several of them in our lifetime. The Korean false prophet, Sun Myung Moon, was a charlatan. He claimed to be the Messiah.

The “Guru Maharaji,” was an Indian teenager fifty years ago. He claimed to be the “Perfect Master.”

Father Divine lived in New York, sixty years ago. He openly claimed to be God. There have been many other false messiahs, some more famous, some less so.

Jim Jones claimed to be a prophet, and Divine. He physically threw down his Bible onstage, and said, “You don’t need the Bible! You need Me!” Then he hustled his followers off to South America and forced them into a mass suicide. His enforcers simply shot anyone who attempted to back out of drinking the cyanide-laced drink, or who attempted to escape .

David Koresh claimed he was the “final prophet.” He and many of his followers died in a police standoff at the “Branch Davidian” Complex, in Waco, Texas. They died either by gunshot or self-inflicted immolation, as the followers set the whole place on fire and most of them died in the flames.

All False Christs are of the Spirit of Antichrist

The point is: any “Replacement Messiah” teaching is also the spirit of antichrist at work. But one thing they share in common: They uniformly deny that Jesus is Almighty God, in Human flesh.

Incidentally, what importance does that lend to the teaching of the Virgin Birth? It turns out that the Virgin Birth is absolutely necessary to the true Messiah. All the prophecies concerning the Messiah, including that of the Virgin Birth, were fulfilled in that One Man. The very first prophecy of the Savior, in Genesis 3:15, necessitates the Virgin Birth!

Our “Secret Weapon”

⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

The Indwelling Holy Spirit (in fact, the Indwelling Christ) is the “secret weapon” of the Church. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World!” Jesus promised to send the indwelling Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17, but He went on to (at least) imply in verses 18-21, that both the Father and the Son would also indwell the believers, in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1:27 lets us know just how important this is: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” YES! Jesus lives in You! That is your “secret weapon!”

In Romans 8:9, God says that if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you do not belog to Him. And that is true! But in 1^st Corinthians 12:13, He says that the moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit placed you into the Body of Christ and that you were indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Also, Ephesians 1:13, 14 says the Holy Spirit is your guarantee that you will spend eternity with Jesus. He is the “earnest”…the “engagement ring” that says “YES, Jesus is coming back for you!” He will never leave you: Never forsake you! You belong to Him forever!

So, Who is Listening to Whom?

⁵They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

When people who claim to be believers consistently reject the written Word as authority in their lives, we have reasonable cause to doubt that they truly are believers. Worldly people most comfortably embrace Worldly teachings. Christians most joyfully embrace the teachings of Christ, and thereby the teachings of the whole Word of God. John and Paul repeatedly identified Jesus as “The Word,” and “The Word of God.” If you are willing to reject the written word of God, you must confess that, in doing so, you are rejecting the authority of Jesus.

To Whom Do You Listen?

At the very least, a believer should be willing to go back and check the scriptures to see whether what they are hearing is truly what the Bible teaches. The folks in Berea (Acts 17:11) who, for the first time, heard the Gospel of Christ, at least had the sense to go back and read the Old Testament Scriptures, to determine the truth of what Paul and his fellow-laborers were teaching. They were Jews who believed the authority of the written Word of God. The Old Testament was all they had, so that is where they went! And they found the answers there! They confirmed the Gospel in the Old Testament!

Jesus taught his disciples from the Old Testament. In Luke 24:25-27, He began with the books of Moses, but traced through all the prophets. He demonstrated to them that He Himself was the central theme of the entire Old Testament! That is why we attempt to emulate Jesus, and to consistently teach the whole counsel of God. It is also why we avoid teaching extrabiblical opinions or politics, including current events and special holidays. 1^st Peter 2:2 defines “Sheep food” as being the Word of God.

The Responsibility of Feeding the Flock

God has given us the responsibility of “feeding His Flock.” We dare not “throw in some stuff that we just kinda think they might enjoy,” and thereby dilute the Word, or, worse yet, replace it with Human Reasoning. Our core content has to be the Written Word of God.

Believers will find themselves drawn to such teaching and they will thrive on it. The Word will eventually repel unbelievers and they will leave, or it will convict them and they will be saved. So, when a church grows, that resolutely teaches the whole Word of God (and only the Word of God,) it usually is healthy growth. People who are hungry for the Word will tend to stay. Those who are not, eventually will drift away, perhaps because “church isn’t entertaining enough,” or “the teaching is uncomfortable,” or for some other cause.

But all we can do is follow the directive of Jesus: “Feed My Flock! Tend My Lambs! And that is what we hope to do! Feed the Flock on the Word of God, and Trust Jesus for the results!

Lord Jesus, convict our hearts to follow Your Word, to seek Your Face in the Pages of Your Word, to seek Your fingerprints in the circumstances in which we live. We trust in Your guidance and we desire to see Your will worked out in our lives.

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021

False Teachers

What does God say about False Teachers?

2^nd Peter 2:3-22

Introduction:

We left off, last week, with God’s warning about false teachers, and we discussed briefly what is and is not a false teacher. There are several questions to be addressed in this chapter: God points out a key idea; that the false teachers are “denying the Lord that bought them.” (v. 1) But that raises a question in many people’s minds, thinking, “they must be believers, otherwise how could it say he ‘bought’ them?” That sounds like a reasonable question, so, let’s answer that first:

Who did Jesus purchase with His Blood?

How many sins did Jesus die for at the Cross? 1^st John 2:2 states that Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. It is not just “hinted at,” or “indicated;” this is not a “matter of interpretation:” God flatly says, he died “…not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (There is nothing “ambiguous” about it!) Jesus said the reason he came was that the World might be saved through Him. He also said that those who believe in Him “have eternal life,” and “are not condemned.” They who do not believe are “already condemned” and “shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on them.” (John 5:24, John 3:17, 18, and 36)

So, a false teacher is not a “believer” because the Lord “bought them:” they are human sinners, (just like us) because the Lord bought them. (He did not die for the sins of the angels who rebelled.) And, by the end of this chapter, we will see that the false teachers definitely are not believers. God draws sharp distinction between sinners who are believers and sinners who are not believers. But the next verse raises another question:

What about Hell?

⁴For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Here is another confusing passage. The word translated “hell,” here, is not the common Greek word “hades” meaning “the place of the dead:” it is the word “Tartarus”, meaning the abyss, or the “bottomless pit.” In fact, the word Tartarus is only used this one time in scripture, and the Greek word “abussos” (describing the same place) is only used nine times, and in all but one, the meaning is clearly not the place of the dead, but the “abyss;” the “bottomless pit” which is evidently reserved for angelic prisoners, not humans. (see Luke 8:31; Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; also Revelation 11:7; 17:8, and 20:1, 3)

People have somehow gotten the idea that Satan “rules in Hell.” That is simply not so. Right now, he is tromping around, right here on earth! (Job 1:7) Hell (hades, or, in the Old Testament, sheol) always simply refers to the “place of the dead.” Sheol/hades was divided into two compartments…the place of the righteous dead, and the place of the unrighteous dead. But the place for angelic prisoners is a completely different location, called the abyss.

People have also somehow gotten the idea that Jesus “went to hell for our sins.” This also is not true! When Jesus made His final declaration of victory, from the Cross, the word He cried out, in Greek, was “Tetelestai!” It meant “Paid in full” It is translated “It is finished,” but that can have a variety of English connotations. I like the way it reads in the Spanish Bible: “Consumado es!” (“It is consummated! It is completed! The work I was sent to do is utterly finished!”) There was nothing left to pay for!

He had told the Jews that He would be spending three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And he told the thief on the Cross: “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise!” (Not hell!) There were two “holding places” for the dead: the righteous dead waited in a place sometimes called “Abraham’s bosom,” as in Luke 16:19-31, or Paradise. In either case, it was the place of the righteous dead: the “waiting-room” for those who would eventually be admitted into Heaven, as a group. (When?) After the resurrection of Christ, at His ascension.

(Why the delay?) Until Jesus died, the way into God’s presence was closed, as pictured by the thick, floor-to-ceiling veil in the temple. When He died, that veil was torn from top to bottom, showing that the way was now open. When Jesus ascended, Paradise was literally transferred into Heaven. This explains why, years later, Paul described being caught up to “the third heaven” (remember, sky, outer space and God’s abode are all called by the same word in both Greek and Hebrew) He said he was caught up to Paradise: up, into God’s presence, not down, into the heart of the earth, where Jesus said He was going to be for three days and three nights.

So, these angels who were cast into the abyss were not in the same place where the unrighteous human dead are still awaiting the final judgment, in Revelation 20:11-15. This is also how we know that “hell,” translated from the Greek word hades, is not the “final” judgment: Revelation 20:14 says that death and hell are to be cast into the Lake of Fire. That is final! Hades is only the “waiting room” for the Lake of Fire, where the whole mass of humanity who rejected the Lord during their lifetimes will be cast, all at one time.

Saved Sinners

Who does God save, then? God saves believing sinners.

⁵And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Noah was a saved sinner: how do I know? Because Genesis 6:8 says “Noah found Grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Grace means “unmerited favor: un-earned favor.” Only sinners need Grace! Noah was saved by Grace through faith, just the same as you and I are. But those around him, whether good or bad (from human perspective,) gentle or violent, young or old, educated or ignorant, sick or healthy, weak or strong, were all unbelieving sinners. God categorized them with one phrase: “the ungodly.” And, because they did not believe the warning, when the flood came, they were all destroyed.

⁶And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; ⁷And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: ⁸(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Lot was a saved sinner! How do I know? Because God calls him “just:” righteous! I would never have considered Lot a righteous man from the Genesis account. He seemed to just be a sinner, all the way around. But evidently he believed in the God who blessed Abraham, because God calls him a righteous man. I had no doubt that the Sodomites were wicked: they proved it. But I had just assumed that God rescued Lot for Abraham’s sake. I didn’t see Lot as a righteous man: but God says that he was! And the only way to be called “righteous” by God is by faith.

What is a Saint?

How does God define His saints? The word “saint” means “holy one;” those whom God has set aside for His service. But where is the dividing line? Turn to Psalm 50:5 “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Those who had “made a covenant with him by sacrifice” are those He calls his “saints.” He has set them apart for His purpose, His exclusive use, and as His exclusive property!

The next question has to be: “What Sacrifice?” There were hundreds of them! In the Old Testament, many people brought sacrifices, but not all of them were making a covenant with God. Some were just “going through the motions.” They brought the “correct” sacrifice, because they were required to do so, but they had no heart for God. He was not deceived by their outward behavior: He saw their hearts, and He openly rejected such sacrifices. (Isaiah 1:11-13)

In Romans 3:25, we see that God has set forth Jesus to be a propitiation (a satisfying sacrifice) through faith in His Blood!” So, today, those who have “made a covenant with God by sacrifice” are those who have placed their faith in Jesus’s blood at the Cross as full payment for their sins. And God says, that makes them His saints: His property; his children, and His ambassadors. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, then all of that is eternally true of you!

That is the same basis upon which Noah, and Abraham, (yes, and Lot) were declared to be righteous. “Abraham believed God, and God declared him to be righteous on the basis of his faith.” (Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3)

Saints often Suffer

⁹The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Remember: in Job’s life, he had done no evil (God says so!) but much evil befell him. In his case, it was so that we could learn the righteousness and authority of God, and learn from the faith and endurance of Job. But, Naboth was faithful, too, and refused to sell the inheritance of his ancestors. Queen Jezebel had him framed for blasphemy, and stoned to death, so she could illegally take the land for King Ahab! Yes, God is faithful, but remember that He is also God: He allows his saints to suffer, for His glory and their eventual reward. Job was blessed and rewarded in his lifetime. Naboth’s reward will obviously have to be in eternity…but Ahab and Jezebel both died very ugly deaths for their wickedness…and eternal judgment still awaits them! And our reward is also not necessarily in this life!

What about those false teachers, then?

The rest of this chapter describes only the false teachers. I have underscored the pronouns in the passage. They are all third-person plural. The only exceptions are the pronouns regarding those with whom they interact. When they deceive believers, the believers are addressed as “you.”

¹⁰But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

¹¹Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

They speak bold, defiant words against all authority, slandering those in authority, when even angelic beings speak more circumspectly, not making wild accusations. And God says they will bring upon themselves the destruction they deserve.

¹²But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; ¹³And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

Notice how they relate to real Christians: they deceive us! They think it’s fun (that’s what “sporting themselves” means) to “infiltrate” the local assemblies, take communion as if they were a believer, come to potlucks, sing the songs, pray the prayers, and fool us all! And we are pretty easily deceived: we want to believe the best of people, so it is hard for us to see through their deceit. But usually, there will be discrepancies that arise, because they also want the pleasures of the flesh. Eventually, their behavior and their words will show their real heart.

They are Not God’s Children!

¹⁴Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

I’ve often heard people say, “we are all children of God!” The Jews tried that with Jesus, and He told them that they were not children of God: rather, they were of their father, the Devil! (John 8:44) Yes, they were “cursed children!” But many assume that it means these had been children of God, and were now cursed. No: they had never been believers, had never entered into a covenant with God by sacrifice, and had never been reborn as children of God.

That is why they “cannot cease from sin!” Even believers can’t “eradicate their sin nature” and permanently cease from sin: But an unbeliever only has the one nature: They literally cannot cease from sin, (and “covetous practices”) because even when they do “good things,” they do so with wrong motives, trying to declare themselves righteous. Their relationship with Christ is based on knowledge alone; not faith (consider Judas as an example: he knew everything the other disciples knew: but he had never placed his faith in Jesus.) These false teachers knew the right way, and evidently made an outward attempt to conform (just like Judas), but then abandoned it, scorning it. (Keep in mind that Jesus confirmed that Judas was never born again…he was never cleansed. John 13:10,11)

¹⁵Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. ¹⁷These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

They are doing as Balaam did (following his way), choosing money, power, and position over a relationship with God. (Balaam was a genuine prophet…a real believer: but he “sold out” and he was killed with the enemies of God.) The false teachers don’t even have that final saving grace: they are phonies; only pretending to believe, just like Judas. “Waterless wells,” have nothing of eternal value to offer…nothing to quench the thirst of a soul desiring hope, and peace with God.

¹⁸For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

¹⁹While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

We can be deceived!

It is entirely possible for a false teacher to draw away real believers after themselves: when Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders, in Acts 20:30, he warned that the false teachers would do just that! Believers can be drawn away into cults: they cannot be lost, but they can be rendered utterly ineffective, and unfulfilled. (When the holy vessels of God’s Temple were stolen by the Babylonians and used for the worship of false Gods, did those vessels become the “property” of those false Gods? No! They were still God’s Property, and He brought them back!) When Jim Jones led his followers into the jungle of Guyana and murdered them all, some of those had been members of evangelical Christian churches in the past, and very likely were real believers! But he was a persuasive speaker, speaking “great swelling words” as we just read in verse 18, and they were deceived! The result was a gruesome death for over 900 people.

But verses 20-22 are about the false teachers themselves, not believers: Notice, it says:

²⁰For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Notice that there is no mention of “saving faith,” or any faith: We are not saved by knowledge; we are saved “by Grace, through faith.” The demons “know” Jesus! They recognized Him and called Him by name, when He was casting them out of the humans they had possessed. They knew Him as “the” savior, but not as their Savior. That “knowledge” could not save them. But how do we know these people were not believers?

²¹For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. ²²But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Again, there is no mention of faith. That alone is important, but not necessarily conclusive. However, see what it also does not say: It does not say, “The sheep has turned back into a dog, and has gone back to eating vomit,” or “The sheep has turned back into a pig, and gone home to the hog-wallow!” No: God identifies these people, like Judas, as those who had never been cleansed…never been transformed, never been born again!

So, the false teachers in this chapter are unbelievers who masquerade as believers. Jesus warned (Matthew 7:15) against the false prophets, saying that “they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Paul warned against the same people, in Acts 20:29, saying that “grievous wolves” would arise, even from among the flock, and draw away disciples after themselves.

Conclusion: We have been warned!

And the only safety we have is found in God’s Word and His indwelling Holy Spirit. We are told to “Be sober! Be vigilant, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!” You cannot be lost, but you can be deceived. Study God’s Word, and arm yourself against the trickery of the enemy, who desires to damage your walk with God. We will continue to work to equip the believers in this assembly to stand fast against that enemy.

Lord Jesus, continue to draw us into a deeper relationship with you through your written Word, by the Holy Spirit, and through fellowship with God and the people of God. Make us strong, and teach us to do your work.

December 29, 2018December 30, 2018

In the Name of Jesus

“In the Name of Jesus”

Colossians 3:17 compared to other passages.

Introduction:

We have been studying Colossians for some time. Last time, we discussed the command to allow God’s Word to “dwell in you richly, in all wisdom.” The result of allowing God’s Word to deeply affect our lives, as commanded in verse 16, should be that everything we do is under His authority, and is to be done as ambassadors of Christ.

When a police officer (in times past) said “Open up, in the name of the Law!” the order he was giving was given under the auspices of (and with the full authority of) the Law of the government he served. The phrase “in the name of” is not to be taken lightly. It is not just a “charm” to apply to everything we do, or a magic spell, an incantation, or something. It is saying that we are operating under the Authority of Christ…not our own authority.

When an Old Testament prophet spoke “in the name of” God, his prophecy had better have been absolutely correct. In Deuteronomy 18:20-22, God said that a person who claimed to speak “in the name of God”, and who was proven to be lying (because the sign he claimed would happen did not happen), was to be put to death. So, this is not a light thing, to claim I am doing or saying something “in the name of Jesus.” And yet, here it is: we are commanded to do so! In fact, there are to be no exceptions! Everything we do or say is to be under that mantle of authority.

**Do All in the Name of Jesus**

¹⁷And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

So, I’m not at all sure that when we pray, and just say, “We ask these things in the name of Jesus, and for His sake” that we are properly using that concept. Possibly we are, in the limited sense that the only reason we can talk to God at all is that we are “in Christ”: we must come to God under the mantle of Jesus’s authority. But, over in 1^st John 5:14, 15, we are also told to pray “according to God’s will”…in other words, we are to be learning what God’s will is, so that we can be obedient to His will and pray in accordance with what we know to be His will.

I don’t think it just means to tack on the “disclaimer”, saying, “If it be thy will.” That just makes it sound as though we really don’t expect results, so we are leaving the option open for God to say “No,” since we already expect that answer. I hope that is not our real motive, as that is not His intent, at all: in Romans 12:2 he tells us to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” That means we have to learn His will, and put it into practice. If we really are living that way, then it would be very likely that when we pray, we really are praying according to God’s Will, and that we should expect solid responses from Him. We are to know that we are in His will, so that we can ask confidently, and expect to see results.

Is it possible that (frequently) we genuinely don’t know, and are simply confessing that to be the case? Of course it is, and there is nothing wrong with that. We need to be completely honest in prayer, and be confident that the Holy Spirit knows our hearts in all things. There is nothing wrong with subjecting all things to the will of God.

Being in the Will of God

The other side of the question is that “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me.” (Psalm 66:18) If I know that I am not doing what God wants, then why should I expect Him to answer my prayers? How ironic it seems, that, while I am stubbornly going my own way, I simultaneously have the gall to claim that I am asking in His best interest, and in His name!

This really ought to call each of us to confession! We need to see that, far from actually acting under the authority of the eternal God, and our Savior, we are mostly acting under our own authority and only asking—praying—in order to fulfil our own desires. James 4:3 drives this point home pretty clearly. We “ask amiss….”

Perhaps we need to do some soul-searching, as to where our hearts really are in this matter: think back to the Old Testament charlatan; the false prophet who claimed to be speaking “in the name of God.” He said those words, all right, but he was not acting on behalf of God, which is what that phrase actually means!

How repugnant it must be to God, to hear His Name bandied about as a “charm,” instead of being treated with the respect it deserves. I suppose that the false prophets were in far worse trouble, as they knew they were lying: we don’t even understand the meaning of the phrase, and so we tend to use it too casually. It seems that, rather than curtailing our use of the phrase, we need to change the nature of our prayers and actions. We are commanded to “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” We are not commanded to simply say that they are done in His name. We are to do all in the name of Jesus.

What are some things we can know to be God’s Will?

God says he desires all to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
God says that he wants us to lead others to Him.
God says that he wants us to live holy lives, in obedience and faith.
God says that he wants our lives to shine as lights in the darkness of this world.

We can find many things in scripture that God says are His will. We can find long lists of things for which Paul prayed for other believers or for himself, and we can take these as examples of what constitutes appropriate prayer. Then we can confidently say “we pray these things in the name of Jesus and for His sake.”

Acting on behalf of God

Just as an illustration; if I were to go to a hardware store, and make a purchase “in the name of” my employer (that is, to be charged to the account of my employer), when in fact it was for something I intended for my personal use, it would be fraudulent at best.

When we ask for something in prayer, saying “in Jesus’ name”, we are “attempting to buy something” on the account of our master, Jesus, and we need to be thinking in that way. It is fine to ask for something in prayer because it is something we desire, too, but we need to realize the difference. If we don’t know which things are “for the sake of Christ” and which are “because I want it,” then we need to be honest and say so. That is when the “not my will, but thine be done” should come into play. I need to remember who my Master is, and that I am always “on the job.”

Here’s another, very negative, example: If I were to commit a crime, as a uniformed police officer, driving a marked police vehicle, it would be taken as being far more serious than the same crime committed by a civilian, and I would be punished accordingly. During hurricane Katrina, there was surveillance video footage of a pair of uniformed officers, looting a store in New Orleans, and loading the stolen items into the back of a marked police car. It was a shameful act, and universally condemned, nationwide. It not only condemned those particular officers, it also called into question the character of all other police personnel, everywhere. It shamed Law Enforcement servants everywhere, and shamed all Americans who support the Law Enforcement professionals. Why? Because they were in uniform, acting against the will of the people they serve and against the laws they are sworn to uphold. They were far worse than a common criminal, because the criminal has never taken oath to obey the law. This was a treachery against the principle of Law Enforcement.

Give this some thought: When a Christian sins, regardless of the severity of the failing, it reflects badly on Jesus, personally. Like it or not, as a believer, you are “in uniform.” You are part of the body of Christ: you are an ambassador of Christ, everywhere you go, and in every circumstance. Consider yourself to be constantly “wearing the uniform” of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that there are always witnesses to your behavior and attitude. We are to maintain that awareness, and act accordingly. The Name of Jesus is a serious matter. Treat it that way.

Putting on the “Uniform”

A few weeks back, we spoke of the command to “put on the new man.” We also pointed out that Galatians 3:27 says we “…have put on Christ.” That is a permanent reality. We now havebeen commanded, as those who have put on Christ (in terms of salvation,” to continually “put on” the new Man, and to put on the characteristics of that new life: the humility and the gentleness, and the love of God. We are told to also “put off” the old way of life, and lay aside our old priorities.

All of these things could be considered the “standard uniform” of the believer. On top of these, we are also commanded to put on the full armor of God. The pieces of that armor (the belt, the shoes, the breastplate, the helmet, the shield, the sword and prayer) are to provide us with the protection and confidence we need to face the daily struggles of life, as well as to guard against the deliberate attacks of the evil one against us.

But, be aware, we are not doing anything “in secret.” Those around us are aware of our position in Christ. If they see that what we claim to be is not matching what they see us to be, they will not be “sympathetic” and say, “Well, he’s trying…give him credit for that!” They will simply dismiss us as “hypocrites,” and assume that everything we say must be false. It is a harsh, inaccurate, unjust judgment, but it is what the World has to offer.

We do not want to bring shame on the name of Jesus, and we do not want to use His Name in an inappropriate manner. We are to change our way of life and the things for which we pray, so that we really can “pray in the name of Jesus,” and confidently look for God’s answer. So that we really can speak and act in His name and for His sake.

The evil high priest, Caiaphas, commanded Jesus, by the name of the Living God, to tell him whether he was the Messiah. Jesus answered to the authority of the Name, even knowing that the man wielding it really had no right to use the Name at all, as everything he was doing (secret trial; trial at night, abuse of the accused, etc.) was illegal. But the answer Jesus gave was not to the man, Caiaphas, it was to the authority of the Living God. Even though it came from an evil, ungodly man, the Name of the Living God was sufficient for Jesus to respond clearly and resoundingly that He was the Messiah. And, he was immediately condemned for doing so. They did not want the truth; they were looking for an excuse to execute Him.

In spite of this knowledge, Jesus responded to the authority of God.

That is an important idea to keep in mind as we move into the following passages, regarding our submission to God and our submission to those he has placed over us:

Conclusion:

We are commanded to “do all that we do, in word and in deed,” in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is a tall order for most of us, and completely impossible apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit. We simply cannot function in a way to please God unless we are in submission to His Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Apart from me ye can do nothing.” He meant just exactly that: unless we learn to walk with God on a daily basis, we will still be muddling along in the flesh, and frustrated, as believers, knowing that we are not being the witnesses He has called us to be.

God help us to learn this critical, fundamental lesson.

Lord Jesus, fill us with the desire to live for you, and, by your Holy Spirit, give us the ability to serve faithfully, resting on Your Grace for all things. And this is truly something we can ask in the name of Jesus, and for His sake.

September 29, 2018September 29, 2018

More Thieves!

Colossians 2:16-23

Introduction:

Last time, we saw that we can be robbed of our Joy, Peace and Security, by those who want us to return to legalism, rather than resting in the Grace of God, poured out upon us through Jesus, at the Cross. We were warned against conformity to Man-made “rules for piety,” when what we are called to do is allow God to change us from the inside. In verse 16, Paul specifically addressed the issues of dietary laws, the keeping of the Jewish feasts, and the Sabbath.

¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Romans 10:4 says: “For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness, to every one that believeth.) The result, then, of the final setting aside of the Law, for righteousness, is that we are also free from the trappings of the religious law adhered to by the Jews. There are people who do place themselves back under the Law, though God warns to not do it, right here in this passage.

And the troubling thing is that we humans tend to condemn anyone who isn’t “like us.” Paul warns us to not allow others to “guilt” us into going back into that slavery. We are easily fooled, and easily coerced through shaming. We are social creatures, by nature, and society around us commonly uses the fear of rejection to make us “conform to the group.” Children learn early, to make the threat, “I won’t be your friend!” in order to coerce another child to do their bidding. When people try to shame you into conformity, away from the freedom in Christ, they aren’t your friend, anyway!

Remember that all the things of the Law were only to “point us to Christ.” Don’t allow them to be used to turn you away from Him.

Remember that the Reality is Christ

¹⁷Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Paul points out that the things of the Law were only a shadow, or a “picture,” at best, of the coming reality of righteousness in Christ. Jesus is the Reality! Since Jesus is the reality, turning to anything else, no matter how pleasing, or solemn, or awe-inspiring—whatever it is that attracts us—is ultimately turning away from Christ.

I do not mean this in the sense of “falling away to perdition,” necessarily: for example, I may have a photograph of my wife, which I especially like, perhaps from when we were first married, and when she was perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. Her hair was thick, dark and glossy, and she was filled with the vitality of youth. But the woman I love today is not a photograph. She is the real person, and lovelier in person than ever before, though no longer as young. If I were to dote upon that photograph, to the neglect of the real person, can there be any doubt that she would be hurt? It would be turning away from the real woman who is my favorite person and the joy of my life, to gaze at a paper representation of someone I knew nearly forty years ago. I would be turning away from my beautiful wife and attaching myself to a dead image. Our relationship, obviously, would be severely damaged.

All the regulations and rituals of the Old Testament Law, were a picture, or a foreshadowing of the reality to come. Jesus is the reality. If we insist on turning back to the Law, we need to realize that, in so doing, we are turning our hearts away from Christ, with all He has done, and concentrating on the things that we can do.

More Thieves!

There are all sorts of ways through which we can damage our freedom in Christ, and thus, our walk with him. Rituals, self-flagellations, self-humiliation, and over-emphasis of angelic intervention in human experience, along with self-conceived visions (as God called the visions of the false prophets in Jeremiah’s time) all tend to lead us away from a simple, day-by-day walk with Christ. The whole point of our life in Christ is that it is to be Christ-centered.

I have read that there was a teaching at the time this was written, which denied the deity of Christ, and relegated him to the status of an exalted spirit, but claimed that angels had somehow brought us salvation. They denied the value of the blood of Jesus at the Cross, and substituted their own ideas for the Truth of the Gospel. They drew people away from the Gospel and in so doing, destroyed their walk with Christ. Paul warns that such false teachers can ultimately trick us out of the reward that is offered to us for simply walking with Him.

¹⁸Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

To “beguile” means to “trick.” You remember that Eve’s only defense, in the Garden, was that the Serpent had tricked her—beguiled her. Don’t let people trick you into giving up your reward. (Remember: Salvation is a gift: rewards are earned!)

People may claim to have seen visions of some sort (and I do not deny the possibility): but the visions have to be in agreement with the Written Word of God, or I am deeply suspicious of their source. There is something in the human psyche that demands self-aggrandizement, even if it is some sort of “I am more humble than you are!” type of boasting. God told the false prophets who were Jeremiah’s contemporaries that they had caused their “visions” or dreams, themselves, and that the visions were not from God. (Jeremiah 29:8) Believers easily get drawn into a mystical “experience-driven” faith, as opposed to simply believing God. I remember a fellow-pastor relating to me how he had attempted to share scripture with a woman, who responded angrily, “I don’t care what the Bible says! I have my experience!” Our experiences may or may not be interpreted rightly, and may or may not be “messages from God.” While it certainly is possible to misinterpret God’s Word, at least it is there to be re-read and understood by anyone who cares. Our experiences are not so secure. (Compare 2^nd Peter 1:15-21) The Word is our Light.

The Body needs the Head

All of our rituals and pious grandstanding do not impress the Lord. Most of them are weak attempts to emulate parts of the Jewish experience: the feasts, the dietary laws, the Sabbaths, etc., even to the extent of attempting to re-create some of the temple vestments and furniture. There was a man, for a while, who had made a copy of the altar of incense, and who had a religious television show of praying before the “Golden Altar of Incense Prayer!” That is blasphemous, as his work was certainly not the altar of incense. It was false teaching, too, as in the New Testament there is no such altar, and no directive to pray in a particular place, posture, or manner. Such things look attractive, and sound pious, but they do not draw us closer to God. They only result in a return to legalism, not a free, wholesome walk with the Savior.

¹⁹And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Notice that the Head is Christ…and the Body is the Church, proper. The Head is to be the only source of nourishment and guidance for the Body. And the Body is to respond to the Head, not to all the misdirection of the World. Give this some thought: we are dependent upon the Head for all things, whether we know it or not, and whether we choose to do so or not. He still is the ultimate source of all our sustenance, and care. But he asks that we choose to depend upon Him; and, that we choose willingly, not by default. Choose to respond to the Person of Christ, and not to the temptations and pressures of the World, and your perspectives will begin to change.

We are to abound in the fruit of the Spirit, not the works of the Law: the result is that the Church flourishes, and the increase is from God, not human effort. A friend of mine visited a number of churches, not because he was looking for another church, but because he had been grieving a loss, and was deliberately “going where no one knew him”, so as to avoid the sympathy and comments that sharpened his grief. He returned, later, and said how relieved he felt to be in a church without the distracting, rock-and-roll music, light-shows, etc. and with a calm, Christ-centered service, where the teaching was plain, Bible-centered, wholesome “sheep-food.”

I recall a church, years ago, which boasted a huge “youth-group”…but it was because they had a rock-and-roll band, basket-ball games, and free pizza, every week. It was a party! And, lest you think I am condemning some particular style of music (I am not) or (heaven forbid!) condemning basketball or pizza; the warning in Ezekiel 33:30-33 is clear, that even when you are preaching the “straight word of God,” there will be those who only came for the entertainment value, with no intent to draw near to God, nor any desire to see their lives transformed. We can’t fix that, but we can try to make sure that we only offer the Word…clean “sheep-food,” as it were, along with simple worship, prayer, and fellowship, so that if people are coming, and staying, it is because that is what they want, rather than some sort of emotional boost, or social “buzz.”

So, Why are you Doing This?

Paul’s conclusion of this topic is a very logical, pointed question: “Why are you doing this?”

²⁰Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
²¹(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
²²Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

Paul reminds his readers that they are dead with Christ (Specifically, dead to those “rudiments of the World”), and complete in Him (without those things), and that they have been permanently separated from the World. So, then, he asks, “Why are you subjecting yourselves to legalism?” He used ceremonial “cleanness vs. uncleanness” for examples: “don’t touch this, don’t taste that, and don’t handle this other thing.” He points out that ALL those “things” (clean or unclean) are temporal, and are, by their nature, destroyed in the very using of them. He also says that such rules are according to the teachings and commandments of men (as opposed to being from God.)

²³Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

In the Old English, this sounds strange: But, the Living Bible paraphrase renders this verse: “These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.”

A “show of wisdom” is not the same as real wisdom: people who practice ritualistic religion, and solemn observance of feasts and pageantry, or who practice strict self-denial, fasting, vows of poverty, etc., all tend to look quite holy and righteous. But, as we saw in the previous verses, these practices do not come from God, and also fail to change the heart, with its sinful desires, so that the person is neither satisfied, nor transformed.

God’s Answer

Over in Romans 12:2 Paul says that we are to not be conformed to (or, “pressed into a mold by”) the World, but rather we are to be transformed…how? By all sorts of self-works, and ritualistic maneuvering? No! We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds! And how can that be accomplished? I very seldom refer to the Living Bible paraphrase, but this, too, is a good rendering, and quite appropriate:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

We are constantly pressed to be “more like those around us”, for a variety of reasons; some good, some bad. God does not address all the individual reasons the world claims to be worthy. He gives us a different directive: Allow God to change you from the inside, by changing your thought patterns. The only way I know to do that is through the direct application of God’s Word, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and walking in constant fellowship with Him. (Psalm 119:9-11; 2^nd Peter 1:4)

Lord Jesus, draw us along, by your Holy Spirit, to walk with you, in obedience to your written Word. Teach us to love You, above all others, and to choose to believe you above all others, even our own hearts. Allow us to serve with you, and to be empowered by you as we go.

March 17, 2018March 18, 2018

Following Christ as Citizens of Heaven

Philippians 3:17-4:1; 2nd Peter 2; Acts 20:17, 28-31

Introduction:

We ended, last time, on Philippians 3:17, where Paul had instructed the Philippian believers to be followers together of himself, and to take note of their other human leaders who lived in the same way as the apostles, so as to use their example and see the same fruits in their own lives.

¹⁷ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

Paul says that there are others (especially church leaders, we hope) whom we can imitate, but warns that we are to “be picky”—take note of those who walk as Paul and the other apostles did, and imitate that kind of individual, not those who live as counter-examples to that faith. He said, back in verse 15 that, if we are trying to imitate this pattern, and if there is a “glitch” of some sort, so that our walk is being misdirected in some way, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to reveal that fact to us, and re-direct our path. That is comforting to know.

But then he notes, parenthetically, that there are some bad examples, too: People whose lives we should absolutely avoid imitating.

**The Parenthesis: Who Not to Follow**

It is entirely possible for a true believer to be misinformed and misdirected. That is not what is being warned against, here. Our defense against such a thing is to be in the Word and in Prayer, specifically seeking to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, all the while recognizing that He, the Holy Spirit, will never lead contrary to the written Word of God, but that it is possible for us to misunderstand the scriptures. However, in this passage, he is talking about licentious behavior along with bad teaching…definite sin. He goes on to describe the false teachers who are a deadly danger to believers:

¹⁸ (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
¹⁹ Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

I don’t know who Paul is referring to, specifically, as he describes them only in general terms: no information specific enough to identify a group. Remember, however, that, while we are all described (Romans 5:10), as having once been the “enemies of God”, we were not described as being the enemies of the Gospel, or the enemies of the Cross. I believe the people he is referring to must be those who are deliberately false teachers, though they may be hard to define, except by observation. Not all who teach false doctrine are doing so deliberately, and not all who act as our enemies are also an enemy of the Cross. Paul gives some examples, elsewhere:

Unbelievers

Romans 11:28 definitely refers to unbelieving Jews as being “enemies” as regarding the gospel, but the enmity is a “one-way” enmity: The unbelieving Jews despised all the believers for the sake of the Gospel, and even were enemies physically, in that regard. Paul cautioned the Gentile believers that those unbelieving Jews were still precious souls for whom Christ died: that they were beloved for the sake of Israel, even when they were acting as enemies. They were still not enemies of the Cross, or enemies of the Gospel, as the false teachers were. They were simply responding as enemies because of the Gospel.

Unbelieving Gentiles were sometimes equally dangerous, but usually were less volatile, as, while the Gospel does indict the Gentiles as sinners, it does not tell them that they have crucified their own Messiah. That one is a pretty tough thing for the Jews to hear.

False Teachers

It is possible for a genuine believer to be sadly mistaken about something, but to teach it with a clean heart, because he simply does not understand a particular concept in the Bible. We don’t hold that against a brother, because there are bound to be things about which we are mistaken, too. We just keep honing our understanding of the Word of God, and bear in mind that it all has to agree with itself or else we are reading it wrong. These are not what the Bible calls a false teacher. It requires an unregenerate heart, and a corrupt motive for teaching the false doctrine.

All of the descriptors here in verse 19 seem to closely match those listed in 2^nd Peter 2, (read it!) where Paul is definitely describing deliberately false teachers, and their habitual sin, along with their false doctrine. These are very heavily condemned for their lifestyle (“…whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things” (here in Philippians,) and “bringing in damnable heresies; …denying the Lord that bought them; …they that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness;” etc. (in 2^nd Peter chapter 2)) Eternal judgment is predicted for them (“Whose end is destruction; who bring upon themselves swift destruction; whose judgment of a long time lingereth not; they shall utterly perish in their own corruption;” etc.).

They are said to be knowingly deceiving the believers: “…sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you…” It makes them feel smart to be fooling the believers around them. And, according to Acts 20:30, they will draw away followers after themselves. Some of you may recall a false teacher, Jim Jones, who led away 900 followers, and moved them all to Guyana…and there, in the jungle, he induced them all to commit suicide, and shot all those who refused. He was a classic false teacher, who began by using the scriptures, but finally threw his Bible down, and said “You don’t need the Bible; you need me!” Those who continued to follow him eventually died, as a result. It is a very sad story, but it was entirely avoidable.

Not all false teachers have such a dramatic end, but all result in souls being drawn away from Christ, either believing false doctrine that prevents them from being born again to begin with, or, in the case of those who are already saved, following teachings that can prevent them from living for God, and experiencing the liberty and peace of God.

It is these false teachers, in 2^nd Peter 2, regarding whom the apostle says, “But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog has turned unto his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2^nd Peter 2:22)

Notice that it does not say, “…The sheep has turned back into a dog, or a pig.” What it says is that a dog, who had, for a time, abandoned his ordinary canine ways, has returned to behaving in accord with his true nature. And, a pig, who had been outwardly washed, but who, at heart, was always a pig, has returned to her old ways. Why? Because given the opportunity, a dog acts like a dog. And a pig is always happiest when he or she is acting like a pig. Sinners are most comfortable in Sin. People who are pretending faith, but have never truly placed their faith in the Savior, will eventually go back to their real comfort zone, and follow their true nature.

So, Paul is warning us that it is possible for an unbeliever to deceive the believers, and finagle his way into a position of leadership. But a combination of bad doctrine that clearly sets aside the authority and holiness of God’s Word, and bad behavior, specifically moral corruption, is a “red flag” for us, warning that they are really a false teacher. Could there be a false teacher who lives a moral life? Yes, I think there can be, but it is uncommon. I think I may actually have known one: He claimed to be a believer, and he had good Bible and ministerial training. As far as I could tell, he lived a blameless life. BUT: he did not believe the Bible was the Word of God, and he taught such things from the pulpit. We confronted him, and he laughed it off, as though we were simple-minded, primitive believers, and that his unbelief was a mark of sophistication. I don’t know what to make of that. I don’t know if he was a genuine believer who was badly deceived by the enemy, or a false teacher who thought he was getting away with something.

Wolves Among the Sheep

Paul warned the elders of the church at Ephesus to be on guard against this very thing: He said that, after his departure, “grievous wolves” would enter in among them, “not sparing the flock;” and that, furthermore, some would spring up from among the leadership, teaching “perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:17, 28-31) The motive could be money, pride, lusts of various types, or just the desire for power and control.

We need to be careful, though, who we label as an “enemy of the Cross,” as that is a pretty heavy accusation. If it is really true, then so be it; but if it is not, then we may fall into the snare of Satan, becoming, with him, an “accuser of the brethren”. I really do not want to go there. Genuine believers can fall into the condemnation and the snare of the devil, according to the warnings in 1^st Timothy 3:6, 7. We want to avoid that.

Please note, too, that Paul said he was weeping for those who were enemies of the Cross, not despising them. Were you ever truly grieved for the eternal destiny of an enemy: someone who constantly torments you, or is deliberately dangerous to you? Personally, I find it difficult to care for their destiny: it is far easier to secretly be glad that judgment is coming, and ignore Jesus’s clear command (Matthew 5:44) to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, and to pray for those who treat us badly. That is what Jonah did! He ignored the command of God! It takes deliberate repentance, confession, and day-by-day obedience, for me to change that pattern.

Our New Citizenship

²⁰ For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

This is an interesting passage, partly because of the word “conversation,” here in the KJV. The Greek word usually translated “conversation” is “tropos” meaning “way of life.” But this Greek word “politeuma”, means “commonwealth”, or “citizenship”. In the case of either Greek root, the King James Bible word, “conversation,” has nothing to do with “two people talking together.” In the one case, it means our lifestyle. In this particular case, though, the statement is that because our citizenship is in heaven, we are to be imitators of Christ, who ultimately, Paul concludes, will completely change us into his likeness, both physically and spiritually. We will lose our tendency to sin, as we will no longer have a sin nature. We will see things from God’s perspective, and understand things that were mysteries before.

That is the living hope of the believer. Every one of us knows that we are a sinner: Every one of us grieves over our sin, and longs to be set free. And the day of release is coming. Paul rejoiced over that in Romans 7:24, 25, saying “…who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”, and again in Romans 8:21-23, saying that the whole creation is looking forward to that day, because they will be (mostly) freed from the curse, when the Kingdom age begins, during which time we will have our new bodies…and no sin nature.

In 1^st Corinthians 15:51, 52, Paul says that, for those believers who are still alive, the first step of that time will happen in a flash: we will get our new bodies at the moment of the rapture. But the kingdom age will not begin until seven years later, after the rapture of the church. Here, in Philippians, he gives us a little insight about what those new bodies will be like:

²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

I am really looking forward to that “change”. Although our physical body does not “cause sin”, it is still true that, so long as we are living in these bodies, we will still be subject to sin. Paul experienced this, too, and grieved over it, just as we do. There is coming a day when our old nature will be gone, and we will be free at last.

In the meantime, our freedom has already been provided for, and we are to stand fast in Christ. In Romans 6, we see that we are no longer enslaved to sin: we do not have to sin. We face temptation and we fall prey to it, but we have a choice: we can submit to Christ and obey His Word, instead of our old habitual submission to Sin.

Chapter 4

¹ Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.

Paul considered this church to be the best of those whom he had led to Christ. They were a total joy to him, and a “victor’s crown.” The Greek word for “crown” here is “stephanos.” It is not the crown of a king, but the victor’s laurel wreath that was awarded to the winner in the Olympic Games. It is translated “crown”, but it always means a victor’s crown. Paul considered these believers to be his trophy…his “blue ribbon.” And, he says, on the basis of all that went before, for them to “stand fast”: To remain steadfast in the face of hard times, in the face of temptation, in the face of tribulations and persecutions. To remain steadfast against false teaching, and to steadfastly follow the leaders God had given, as those leaders steadfastly followed Christ.

That is what we are to do, as well! This letter is to us, as well as to those who first received it. All the epistles are to the churches, not to some high-ranking church leaders: the letters are to YOU.

We need to absorb these truths, and allow them to change our lives. Allow God to use His Word to remake you in His own image. Believe his promises. Obey His commands. Allow His love to flow through you to those around you. That is what it means to stand fast and to walk with God, Following Christ.

Lord Jesus, remake us in your own image: make us the men and women of God that you have called us to be. Allow us to follow you, and to serve faithfully as ambassadors of Christ, offering your love to the World around us, and living in the practical holiness you have assigned to us.

October 25, 2014December 12, 2014

Inside-Out Theology

“Inside-Out” Theology

Galatians 2:1-5; Matthew 23:13-29

Introduction:

We have come a fair way with the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians: we know what his primary concerns were, in his writing to them; namely that his authority came from God, not Man, and that the gift of Eternal Life was just that: a gift, neither earned by any sort of works, nor to be maintained by human effort.

Paul’s Message

As we begin chapter two, keep in mind that Paul’s purpose is to confirm in the reader’s mind that

The authority of his message is the Word of God, not humans, and that
Legalism is not from God.
Those who preach legalism are also not from God.

¹ Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

² And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

³ But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:

⁴ And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

⁵ To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Paul’s first major contact with the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, the remaining nine apostles, and whoever else was in Jerusalem, after his own conversion, was fourteen years after the first, minor contact. Barnabas and he had taken along with them Titus, who was a Gentile believer. Paul holds Titus up as proof that the Apostles accepted him as a fellow-heir of God’s Grace, without any outward mark of conversion.

Paul had talked privately with the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, to make sure that they were not at odds with one another. As it turned out, there was no problem. The Judaizers (legalizers) did show up, however, and try to convince the leadership that the Gentile believers needed to become Jewish proselytes to be saved. It is really odd: what they were essentially saying is that it did not matter what God did inside a man—it was what people do on the outside that counted for eternity. Doesn’t that seem monumentally backward? Well it did to Paul, too.

Paul pointed out, using Titus as the example, that he had not subjected himself or Titus to their insistence at all, so that the truth would not be muddled. (Contrast this with Romans 14, 15 where the strong try not to cause the weak to stumble. These were not “weak believers” – they were false teachers…not believers at all.)

One counterpoint that gets mentioned frequently is the fact that Paul did circumcise Timothy. The difference was that Timothy was technically a Jew who had been raised by a Gentile Dad. I was unaware of this until a Jewish believer, a Godly woman, was in a Bible Study I was teaching, and informed me that, from the Jewish perspective, “Jewish-ness” is passed on through the mother, not the father. So Timothy was a Jewish young man, from Jewish perspective, and had been raised in a severely limiting environment. Perhaps Paul felt that embracing his heritage in that way would make him better able to serve. But Titus, who was strictly a Gentile had no such heritage to embrace, and was better off remaining as he was.

In both cases, the physical state had no effect whatever on the Spiritual reality. Both were Godly young men, setting out to serve the Risen Christ. Both honored God in their flesh, and neither was any closer to God because of the physical status of their body. The Legalizers desire to coerce others to conform to their own legalistic values, and claim that those who do not conform to them are also rejected by God. God says that is not how we are saved…and not how we serve.

So, What did Jesus say?

Do you think Jesus was silent on this matter? Think back—from whom did he encounter the most opposition? The Established leaders of the Jewish Religion, right? The Pharisees. The Sadducees hated him too, but they were the liberals of the day, and actually rejected the concept of a literal resurrection, any sort of spiritual reality, and angelic existence, for starters. The Pharisees were the conservatives of the day, and they supposedly believed the whole counsel of God, but were going to interpret it in such a way that they themselves were put firmly in command, and everyone else had to follow their lead. (Sound familiar? It happens a lot today, too, doesn’t it?)

So, when Jesus preached His Gospel of Grace, both sides hated it, but for different reasons. The Sadducees were just wrong about so much that he spent very little time on them: he exposed their error, and left them to stew in their own juice. But the Pharisees, along with their companions the scribes—the intellectually religious of the day—who claimed to believe all of God’s Word, He confronted over and over, as total hypocrites. Think about some of his accusations against them:

Inside-Out Theology

(Matthew 23:13-29) Woe to you scribes, and Pharisees:

Hypocrites (seven times in this passage)…remember that “hypocrite” means an actor—a professional phony; a pretender.
Blind; blind guides (five times)
Fools; (two times)
You close up the kingdom of Heaven against Men; you won’t go in yourselves and won’t let anyone else enter. Remember, we pointed out earlier that anyone teaching a works-earned-salvation was actually serving to keep people out of heaven. Jesus said so, right here. The Pharisees, convinced of their own righteousness, and willfully ignorant of the righteousness of God, were not only satisfied that they really did not need a savior, but refused to let anyone else have one. They were, in fact, partnering with Satan, as we pointed out earlier.
You devour widows’ houses (buying up the land of the poor, leaving them with no way to earn a living) and, for pretense, make long prayers. They were making an outward show of piety, but doing things that are patently self-serving. They looked good on the outside, but their motives were evil.
You practice Proselytism, but not Evangelism. Jesus did not use these words at all: he described the behavior. Even so, that sounds strange—why would one be different than the other?If I am preaching the honest Gospel of Christ, the “good news” of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, along with the truth that all God asks us to do is to believe in his chosen sacrifice for salvation, then the only thing that can happen is that, if they believe it, God makes them over into His That’s Evangelism.If I go out with the “good news” of my particular organization, church, para-church organization, etc., creed, or whatever; the probable outcome is that certain people will join the church, because they see the social advantages, but they will never believe the gospel, because, (a) I didn’t preach it, and (b) they do not see a need for a savior. They are being made over into my image, and a poor copy at that. That is Proselytism.The Jews were practicing what they considered to be “evangelism”. Jesus said they “compass land and sea to make one proselyte” but that the result was people even more confused and lost than the false preachers who led them into Judaism. They did not preach the Grace of the God of Israel. They apparently did preach His holiness, to some degree, but slyly pointed out that we can “get around” the sin issue, by “just” keeping the Law. Then, once someone was snared by this false gospel, they had to do more and more works, trying to please a God who simply was not impressed. They could not keep the law, and were even more devastated by the attempt than were the ones who trained them.Jesus said “you make him twofold more the child of Hell than yourselves” So he labeled the false teachers and those who followed them as “children of Hell.” This is nothing new: he had already called them children of the Devil…John 8:44. God was not impressed with them or their religious works, especially not their brand of “evangelism”.
You diminish the Temple of God by exalting the outward trappings in place of the inward reality. This starts to get close to the real heart issue: They did not see the house of God as being as important as the gold decorations in that house. They did not see the Owner of the home as being as important as his tableware! How incredibly insulting to God, and how clearly revealing as to where their true heart was.They thought the outward trappings were more important than the inward reality. Remember that Solomon’s Temple was relatively small, but incredibly richly ornate. However, the only thing that was important was the fact that God moved in and took up residence. Also, the second temple, though far less glorious, shared that unique difference: God resided there! Even the Renovated second Temple, renovated by an ungodly King, over a period of 46 years, still carried the name of the House of God—Jesus referred to it as “My Father’s House”, but in the same breath accused the Pharisees and their companions of having “made it a den of thieves”. Incidentally, Ezekiel, in three stages, had been burdened with the vision of the Spirit of God leaving that temple, and leaving Israel; so, in the most important sense the temple was already gone, as the “home-owner” had given it up. Historically, of course, we know that 40 years later it was completely destroyed.Think though: in the sense of the Church-age, the Church proper is THE temple of God, in the New Testament, and the physical body of each believer is each individually the “temple of the Holy Spirit”. So, we have to ask: what matters more; the outside, or the inside? Does it matter more that a person wears a certain kind of clothing, drives a certain kind of car, or cuts their hair a certain way, does (or does not) do certain things on certain days, eats or does not eat certain foods, etc., or does it matter most where God is (inside or outside) in relation to that individual? And, finally, whether He is allowed to actually reign in his chosen temple? Think about that one.
You Major in the Minors: You give accurately in areas that matter hardly at all, but not at all in areas that matter deeply. People put a lot of emphasis on whether a person formally and publicly prays before meals. Even that is an outward trapping. Unbelievers can do this as well as believers. People say they “pray all the time”…so do the pagans, and some more than others. Jesus was not impressed with how much of the worlds’ goods were being given back by the Pharisees, but how much of themselves were given back (or not). He said you have left out the things that matter; justice, mercy and faith. A good heart in the major things will dictate a good heart in the minor things, too. The reverse is not true. He said they were blind guides who were fastidiously picking a tiny bug out of their food and yet swallowing something that would make any normal person choke (a camel). A person genuinely concerned about the cleanliness of their food would obviously take out the biggest things first, but not fail to also remove the small things.
You clean and polish the outer man, leaving the inner man unchanged. They were so concerned with the trappings of holiness, the outward symbols, that they had utterly abandoned the reality of holiness in the inner man. He said they “clean the outside of the cup” but that the inside was filled with extortion and excess.There is no way a person can put such things as extortion in a physical cup; the obvious metaphor is the human life. They made the outer man look good, but the inner man was unchanged, or even getting worse. He compared them to whitewashed tombs that looked pretty on the outside because of the whitewash, but they were ignoring the fact of the deadness within. He made it completely clear what he meant, because he bluntly stated, “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
You glorify the tombs of the prophets instead of glorifying the Word of the God who sent them. This one would be easy to miss: what’s wrong with honoring the dead? Well, nothing.But let’s say I made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Martin Luther King, Jr., and I lay a wreath on his grave, and I publicly engage in prayer there, shedding a pretentious tear, but in fact I was a raging racist myself? Wouldn’t the people who knew the reality be offended that I was defiling his grave by my pretense? And yet this happens every year. People who are publicly extremely racist and divisive visit the grave of Dr. King, and make a public show of mourning his death, while despising his stand for brotherhood and equality irrespective of race. The only thing they really shared with him is the color of their skin…they despised what he actually stood for.The people Jesus to whom spoke were honoring the dead prophets by building monuments over their graves…but ignoring the words for which those prophets had died. A better tribute would have been to embrace the truth for which they died.

Jesus spoke to a group of false teachers, the Pharisees, and condemned them for their hypocrisy, their blindness, their folly, and their evil, unbelieving hearts. Paul echoed that teaching, here in Galatians, as he pointed out the hypocrisy, blindness and folly of the legalizers who attempted to force the Gentile believers to become Jews in order to please God. They too are false teachers, and he has already warned us as to where they stand with God: they are accursed!

Conclusion:

We will constantly be tempted to engage in legalism at one level or another: it pleases our old sin nature to believe that “I can do good things for God on my own!” The fact is we cannot…the old nature is completely opposed to God, and cannot be subjected to Him. The new nature is born again in the image of God, and knows it cannot achieve right standing before God. That right standing is what Jesus supplied at the Cross. There is nothing I can do to improve it.

Think: as your first-born child began to learn to walk, was he or she any less or more your child? Did you love him any more or less because he was learning to walk? Of course not, but you were pleased at his infant efforts, and saw it as evidence of healthy growth. God sees our efforts in a similar vein. I am not more pleasing to God because of my efforts to please him. And, if those efforts became my primary focus, instead of seeking to know him and worship him, then my relationship with Him would be set aside, and my relationship with the Law would be all that was left. This is what Paul warned against.

The Judaizers and legalizers who preyed upon the infant church sought to enslave it, not set it free. Paul was determined that it should remain free. We have to watch our own hearts to stay free from legalism, even today. It is so easy to think, “Well, I know I have a better walk with God than he does, because I (…fill in the blank).” The fact is; if your relationship with God is all about works, you may not even be a believer. If, on the other hand, your works are all about Jesus, and responding to him, then the peace of God should be seen in your life, as well.

If that is not the living, growing reality, in your life, then perhaps you need to re-examine the core issues.

God help us to recognize the difference between zeal for the person of Christ, and zeal for the trappings of orthodoxy. Help us to be ambassadors of Christ, not sales representatives for a church. Help us to feed on your Grace daily, and offer that Grace to the World around us in the Person of the Savior.

Amen

How to Recognize False Teachers ( Jude, Part Three)

Jude 13-25

Introduction:

Characteristics of False Teachers

Human Movements and Waves of Unrest

Wandering Stars

So, How Do We Learn to Spot a False Teacher?

Reference to Enoch

Observe the Character of False Teachers

We Have Been Warned

Conclusion, Response of the Believers

So…What are We Supposed to Do?

First: How do We Respond to God?

Then: How do We Respond to Those Around Us?

One

Two

Three

Jude’s Final Benediction

Part Two: Judgment is coming

Jude 8-13

Introduction:

Beginning A List of Examples

Extra-biblical Examples

More Examples

Jude lists three examples in one verse:

It is Insanely Bad Judgment to Usurp Authority!

The Character of these False Teachers, and False Christians

What Other Signs of False Teachers Can We See?

What Happens to the People They Mislead?

What are Wandering Stars?

So, How Do We Learn to Spot a False Teacher?

2nd John: A Letter to “The Elect Lady”

Introduction:

A Strong Emphasis on Truth

Truth is the Ground and Basis of Faith.

Jesus is the Living Truth

A Reminder of the Commandment of Christ

Why The Warning? False Teachers Abound!

What Do They Do With Jesus?

So, What Should We Do?

Think Carefully About Who You Support!

Personal Contact is Important

The Outreach is Worldwide

A Letter to the Children (Part 10)

1st John 4:1-6

Introduction

But, What Does He Mean, When He Says to “Try the Spirits?”

What Is He Really Saying?

The Spirit of Antichrist

What Does “Antichrist” Mean?

Who Is the Person?

What about Negative meanings?

Many False Christs

All False Christs are of the Spirit of Antichrist

Our “Secret Weapon”

So, Who is Listening to Whom?

To Whom Do You Listen?

The Responsibility of Feeding the Flock

What does God say about False Teachers?

Introduction:

Who did Jesus purchase with His Blood?

What about Hell?

Saved Sinners

What is a Saint?

Saints often Suffer

What about those false teachers, then?

They are Not God’s Children!

We can be deceived!

Conclusion: We have been warned!

“In the Name of Jesus”

Introduction:﻿

Do All in the Name of Jesus

Being in the Will of God

Acting on behalf of God

Putting on the “Uniform”

Conclusion:

More Thieves!

Introduction:

Remember that the Reality is Christ

More Thieves!

1^st John 4:1-6

**What Does “Antichrist” Mean?**

Introduction:

**Do All in the Name of Jesus**

**The Parenthesis: Who Not to Follow**