FALSE TEACHERS:
THE CHARGE TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THEM—A DESCRIPTION OF THEM AND THE DANGER THEY PRESENT
• Behavior - Characteristics – Traits of False Teachers.
• Are deceptive. Romans 16:18; Colossians 2:4; Ephesians 4:14
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16:17-18 (NIV)
• Are not saved. / Are worldly minded and sensual. / Cause division. Jude 17-19
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. Jude 1:17-19 (NIV)
• Are prideful. What false teachers take pride in. 1 Tim. 6:4
3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1 Timothy 6:3-5 (NIV)
• Are deceiving and being deceived. 2 Tim. 3:13
13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:13 (NIV)
• Are troublemakers. Galatians 1:6-7
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6-7 (NIV)
• Boast in the flesh. Galatians 6:12-13
12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. Galatians 6:12-13 (NIV)
• Deny Christ. 2 Peter 2:1
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)
• Do not understand what they teach. 1 Tim. 1:6-7
6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. 1 Timothy 1:6-7 (NIV)
• Enslave others. Galatians 2:3-5 / • Enter the church hypocritically. Galatians 2:3-5
3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 [This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. Galatians 2:3-5 (NIV)
• Follow false messiahs and saviors. John 5:43
43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. John 5:43 (NIV)
• Follow the way of rebellion against God and reject authority. Jude 11
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. Jude 1:11 (NIV)
• Lead sheep to destruction, away from life. John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 (NIV)
• Preach and teach fables. 2 Tim. 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
• Preach and teach myths and speculations and controversies. 1 Tim. 1:3-4
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith. 1 Timothy 1:3-4 (NIV)
• Preach and teach tradition. Matthew 15:9
6 …Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" Matthew 15:6b-9 (NIV)
• Resist the truth. 2 Tim. 3:8
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 2 Timothy 3:8 (NIV)
• Seduce and deceive. 2 Cor. 11:13-15
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
• Serve their own desires and appetites. Romans 16:17-18
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Romans 16:17-18 (NIV)
• Spirit of. Is evil. 1 John 4:1
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3 (NIV)
• Turn people away from the truth. 2 Tim. 3:3-4
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NIV)
• Protection against False Teachers.
• By an anointing from Christ. 1 John 2:20
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:20-22 (NIV)
• By fearing false teachers because they are messengers of Satan. 2 Cor. 11:13-15
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
• By guarding oneself. Mark 8:15; Philippians 3:1-3; Hebrews 13:9-16; 2 Peter 3:17; 1 John 2:18-22
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- Philippians 3:1-3 (NIV)
• By knowing their danger. 1 Tim. 1:3-11
• By marking and watching out for false teachers. Romans 16:17-20
• By not welcoming false teachers in one's home. 2 John 10-11
7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. 2 John 1:7-11 (NIV)
• By turning away from false teachers. 1 Tim. 6:20-21
20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you. 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (NIV)
• Source - Where false teachers are.
• From within and without the church. Acts 20:29-30
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Acts 20:29-31 (NIV)
—Source: POSB (Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible) NT Master Subject Index
