In this enlightening episode, we delve into the world of false teachings and how they can mislead believers away from the true essence of faith. Charles Stanley emphasizes the rise of deceptive doctrines in our world and the necessity of being rooted in the undeniable authority of the scriptures to recognize and refute such falsehoods. Through examples from the Bible, such as the warnings in Jeremiah and Galatians, we explore how these false ideologies are not new and why it is critical for believers to stand firm in their understanding and defense of their faith.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, April 8th. Everything you hear or read should be measured against the timeless truths of Scripture. Join us on today’s podcast as we learn to identify false teachers with clarity and confidence.
SPEAKER 02 :
There are lots of people around who are propagating ideas that are absolutely untrue. It’s deception. And the rise of this kind of group is increasing all around us. And I think oftentimes things sort of creep up on us. But erroneous doctrine is increasing everywhere. God’s people need to know what we believe, why we believe it, and to be able to defend it. And oftentimes we take it for granted until all of a sudden we’re confronted with it. I want you to turn to Jeremiah, if you will, first of all, Jeremiah chapter fourteen. And you recall that Jeremiah, Jeremiah the prophet kept saying to Judah, listen, the Babylonians are coming, the wicked, ungodly, evil, vile, treacherous Babylonians are coming. God’s going to let them bring persecution upon us if we don’t repent. Now, listen to what happens. In the fourteenth chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 13, but, ah, Lord God, I said, look, the prophets are telling them you will not see the sword. No, well, you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place, being deceptive. Don’t worry about the Babylonians. They’re way over yonder. They’re not going to bother you. Listen. Then the Lord said to me, The prophets are prophesying falsehood in my name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, divinations, futility, and the deception of their own minds. It is very important that you and I know exactly what we believe and why we believe it. And you’ll recall, for example, also in Galatians. Look in Galatians for a moment. And I want you to notice this verse. Paul was writing them because they knew the truth. They’d heard the truth. He taught them the truth. And then here comes Judaizers along and they have something else to say. And here’s what he says in the third chapter, verse one. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? And what they were doing, they understood the truth, and then somebody comes along and says, but let me tell you there’s another side of this. And this is usually what those kind of folks who are there say, well, that’s just one opinion. There are other opinions. And anytime someone wants to mislead you, they’re going to come on, well, you know, that’s your opinion. And they’ll say, well, I respect your opinion. But when they finish that, you say to them, I respect your right to have your opinion. But the Word of God says there has to be an authority. Preachers are not the authority. We’re not the authority. God’s Word is the authority. This is the authority. And so… I would never tell anybody who says God called me to preach it. Now, I’ve seen some people and heard some people who said it. I don’t believe it, but that’s not the issue. It’s not for me to tell them necessarily that, but we have to be careful. Because these are the kind of things that divide people, wreck churches, and you name it. False teachers oftentimes start churches. And here’s how they start churches. They find out somebody who’s disgruntled. Well, they don’t like the pastor for this reason. Well, if they find out about that, what do they do? They usually start their church off of disgruntled people or people who are not Christians, who are confused. And they say, well, I don’t know what I believe. And so, well, if you’ll come join our church. And they begin churches that way. What’s the doctrine of those churches? Listen carefully. A lot of times people say, well, don’t give me that doctrinal stuff. When I go to church, I want to worship God and I want to walk away feeling good and I want to know that I’ve been to church and meet my friends and it just ought to be a wonderful time. Fine. Let me ask you this. What’s the foundation of your belief system? Is it feeling? If it’s feeling, then you don’t have a foundation. The foundation of our belief system is the doctrinal truth. That is, these basic truths of the Bible that are the foundation of everything we believe, beginning with the deity of Christ and all the other that we believe. And so, when somebody says, I don’t want that. Stanley, you, it’s like a school. That’s not church, that’s a school. Be my guest. In other words, a person doesn’t have to come if they don’t want to. But one thing I’m responsible, I am responsible for explaining and exhorting with the Word of God so that people will hear the truth and having heard the truth, be able to apply it to their life so God can lead them and guide them to the life that He’s prepared for them and that they may make an impact on the lives of others so that we can carry out God’s purpose in our life. That’s what it’s all about. And so what are false teachers up to? False teachers are not up to bringing you into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. False teachers are up to getting you to like them, for example, pleasing you, you name it. And there are many churches that have been split as a result of that. Now, there are many other things we can say about that, but I want you to think about two things, and one of them is this. I want you to think about the danger of following a false teacher. What’s the danger? First of all, if you follow a false teacher, you’re following deception. You’re following someone whose purpose is not primarily to lead you into a growing relationship with Christ, but a purpose less than that, and to deceive in some fashion to get something that that particular teacher wants. A second word is this, because this is what happened, and that’s division. False teachers divide. They divide the church. They divide families. And if there’s anything that’s heartbreaking to a pastor, it’s to be a part of a fellowship. And it has a split. And people go one way and go the other. And listen, people who are genuine friends do not even speak to each other no more. Families don’t speak to each other. And then especially if a husband and wife, they’re both in total disagreement, and the family gets split. And how long does it take to heal a split church? sometimes it never heals. The awesome danger, the division. And then, of course, there’s disillusionment. What happens is this. When false teachers begin to make promises, well, you join our church, this is what we’ll do. You follow me or whatever it might be. You believe as I have suggested here. Here’s what happens. When a person departs from the Word of God, the simple teaching of the Word of God, when you depart from that, I don’t care who you’re following or what church you belong to or what cult or what group or assembly or whatever it might be. you’re going to end up disillusioned. Because if you’re not growing in your personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, there’s going to be a sense of emptiness. And all the promises in the world cannot do for you what only Jesus Christ can do and meant to do. And that is to bring us into a relationship that’s satisfying and fulfilling in our life. The next word you’ll notice is danger. And what’s the danger? The danger of falling away. Somebody says, well, now wait a minute. How can I fall away if I know that I’ve been saved and there’s no doubt in my mind that I have? And I want you to look in 1 Timothy for a moment and look, if you will, in the fourth chapter of 1 Timothy and notice what he says here. He says in verse one, But the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience, as with the branding iron. When he talks about falling away, he does not talk about here of falling away and being lost, but what? Falling away from your relationship to God to the point that you are no longer, that you are useless. A person who’s been walking in the faith and has been steered away, has been deceived, and then they say, well, I don’t know what to believe anymore. I’m just quitting. I give up. Forget the whole idea. That is the work of false teachers. And that is to lead people to a place of being disillusioned. And then, of course, there is the whole issue of destruction. Listen, false teachers can destroy people. When they lose their sense of faith, and you know, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried all that. Then they get on drinking, and then they go to drugs. I used to be a Christian, now I’m not, and so forth. Listen, false teaching is absolutely dangerous, divisive, destructive. And that’s why we need to be able to identify it. Now, with that in mind, let’s ask the question, and that is how do we protect ourselves from false teaching? Well, I want to give you several other words and make that just as simple as I know how so you can remember it. So look at it for just a moment. Protection against false teachers. Number one, cling to the Word of God as your faithful guide in life. Titus 1, 9 says, hold fast the living, the faithful Word of God. When it says cling to it, that means, listen, take it in your grip. Hold it tight. Don’t let anything come between you and the Word of God. Hold fast, cling to it. This right here is the most important thing on earth you have. You take this out of your life, the message of the Word of God out of your life, and what do you have? You have no assurance. You have no real genuine hope. You have no foundation for your life. You’re floating through life. You’re the victim of everything coming and going. It’s the Word of God. When people doubt this, it is disastrous. So, first of all, Look at that. We have to cling to the Word of God. The second thing is this, is to study the Word of God under a trustworthy teacher. Who is a trustworthy teacher? Listen carefully. Somebody who believes unquestionably in the truthfulness of the Word of God from Genesis chapter one, verse one to the last verse in the book of the Revelation. Who does not question the authenticity of it, who does not question the reliability of it, who does not question the truthfulness of it. And watch this. Listen, study the Word of God on a trustworthy teacher. Who’s a trustworthy teacher? Somebody whose lifestyle appears to be in keeping with what he says with his mouth. You say, well, I don’t know how to study the Word of God. Well, let me ask you a question. How are you going to learn it? If you just come and listen, or if you just watch a TV or a radio, for example, you listen and you just watch it and you go away. I think, and this is the thing that amazes me. How many people go to church, carry no Bible, no note, no pencil, no pen, nothing? Think about something. You don’t know what you believe in this day and time. You are subject for great disaster. Because watch this, what you do as a parent, who’s following you? Your children, your grandchildren. People do you work with? You see, when godly people fail or are drawn away, I always carry somebody with them. The third thing I want you to notice is this, and that is learn to refute false doctrine. You say, well, how can I refute false doctrine? When somebody says, I don’t believe that. That’s just your opinion. You say to them, thank you very much. Let me tell you why I believe it. I believe it because I read it in the Word of God. And if they say to you, well, I don’t believe the Bible is all true. We’ll say, thank you very much. Would you show me what’s untrue? And they can’t do it. And so we must learn to, listen, you may not be able to successfully convince a lot of people. Not I nor anyone can convince somebody of what they ought to do when they’ve already decided, this is what I’m going to do. And no matter what you think or what anybody else thinks, I don’t believe that. I don’t want to believe that. And then what you could say is, well, you know, I certainly appreciate you telling me exactly where you are. And when you said, for example, that you don’t want to believe that because you just reminded me of a scripture. And you can turn them to this. Listen, II Timothy chapter four, verse three. For the time will come when they will not endure a sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. Doesn’t get any clearer than that. Think about this. When people can look in the Word of God, And read a verse of Scripture that lists sins from God’s point of view and say, well, now, yeah, I know that’s what that says, but I do not believe that my lifestyle is sinful when God says specifically, directly, clearly, yes, it is, it is an abomination to God. Well, you know, I just don’t believe that. Well, that’s what He said. They’ll have people who will tell them things that tickle their ears. rather than convict them of their sin. It’s dangerous today to ignore God’s Word. And if I’m going to defend myself of those things, then be on guard against false doctrine. That’s what Paul said in 2 Peter. We read that a few moments ago, 2 Peter 3, 17. Be on guard, that is, watch for it. Be careful. Be able to refute it. Be on guard against it. And then this last verse I want to give you, it’s in the little book of 2 John. 2 John just has one chapter. We’re talking about how to defend ourselves now against these things. And so you say, well, you know, I don’t think I’m qualified to do that. And I can’t argue these people who come to my door. So what should I do? I’ve got to be kind to them and let them in. But I really don’t want to talk to them. Are you listening? Say amen. Amen. Listen carefully to what God’s Word says. This is the way you treat false prophets, false teachers, whoever it might be. He says in the little letter of 2 John, he says, verse 7, For many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, that means that He’s truly the Son of God. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. When somebody comes to you and they don’t believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He’s dear to them, they’re antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we’ve accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. That’s, in other words, the way we live gives evidence whether we know Him or not. Now watch this. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. They’re coming to your house to deceive you. They’re coming to your house to mislead you. They’ll mislead your children. They’ll mislead you. They’ll mislead your husband. They’ll mislead your wife. They’ll mislead other members of your family. And here’s what he says. He says, look, very crystal clear in the tenth verse, don’t receive him into your house and don’t give him a greeting. Do you get that? Say amen. Now, see if you get this. How do people come into your house? Say, open the door. Television, they’re in your house. Radio, they’re in your house. Email, they’re in your house. Telephone, they’re in your house. You don’t let them in. If they call you on the phone and say, I have no desire to discuss this with you. You have no obligation to let anybody in your house through your television, your radio, your mail, your telephone, anything else who is trying to mislead and destroy you. And if you’re a father, dad, you’re responsible to protect your wife and your children. If you’re a mother and you don’t have a husband with you, you’re responsible. If you’re a big brother with little brothers and sisters, you’re responsible. False teaching is destructive. It doesn’t belong in our life. Our responsibility is to speak the truth based on the pure Word of God. This is the essence of authority right here. You can’t think of a single incident in life whereby the answer for that decision is not found right here. And my prayer is that you love the Word of God, live by it, exhort other people and defend it and refute error. And listen, point people to Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, and Master, and He will honor your message and your conviction. And Father, how grateful we are that You’ve given it to us in the words so simple and so plain. You’ve given us warning after warning. And how I do pray that people will begin to listen more carefully to what they hear and begin to discern truth from error and to begin to ask God, what is the truth? and you will not withhold it from us. You desire we know the truth and walk in it, and I pray that it’ll be so. But we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Dealing with False Teachers. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
