Watching for the Wolves

Please turn to Acts 20, and maybe
you’re still there from where Alan was reading. Since he didn’t
expound upon Acts 20, I would like to. A little further into
the chapter, though. Acts 20, verses 29 and 30 are
the main verses I want to be instructing from, but I’ll be
reading more than that. I’ll be beginning to read at
verse 25. The main point of this message
is to beware. Beware of false teachers. It’s
a warning that we heard from our Lord while he was on this
earth ministering, and his apostles also gave us the same warning,
Peter and Paul and Jude. But before we go there, I want
to bring out a few logical fallacies. Since we’re talking about false
teachers, the logical fallacy number one that I want to point
out is this. Today, as I said, I’ll be speaking
about false teachers as our enemies. Therefore, you can put to rest
any idea that I’m one of them. Right? That’s not logical. Number two. I’m going to say
a lot of things that are true. I’ll even use scripture to support
what I’m saying. Therefore, I can’t be a false
teacher. That’s not logical either. They
do that a lot, don’t they? But they twist it, and we’ll
talk about that more. Number three, because I have
not perfect knowledge, I’m still learning things about the Word
of God. I’ve said things in the past that are not true. Therefore,
I’m a false teacher. That’s not logical either, right?
We all say things that are not true, but what is meant when
the New Testament speaks of false teachers is those who are trying
to lead people away from Christ to follow themselves, to follow
them. So just because someone says
something false doesn’t make him a false teacher. Now there
are truths that cannot be compromised. And we can talk more about those
later. So I want you to be a Berean and examine everything I say
by the word of God. I’m not your authority. I’m not
the standard of authority, but the word of God is, and I’m so
grateful that we have it. So as I’ll be instructing from
numerous portions of scripture, but as I said, it will all be
flowing out of Acts 20. 29 and 30, but to give it some context,
and Alan already did some, I’ll pick it up in verse 25. You know
where, as Alan was reading, the Apostle Paul was on his journey,
well, he was actually talking about them preaching, and I thought,
you know, they were preaching all night, so don’t be discouraged
if we stay too long. It should be rather short, so
don’t worry about that. We’re dropping in on a meeting
of Paul, meeting with the Ephesian elders, where he stops by at
the beach of Miletus. The Ephesians come in from inland
a little bit, and they meet Paul there for the last time. And
this is the conversation they’re having. Paul says, and now behold,
I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the
kingdom will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to
you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for
I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church
of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after
my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing
the flock, And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking
perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore,
be on the alert. Remembering that night and day
for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each
one with tears. And now I commend you to God
and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up
and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves
know how these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men
who were with me. In everything, I showed you that
by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak and remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, it is more
blessed to give than to receive. Now, Paul had invested a lot
of time implanting this Ephesian church, and he was giving them
their final instructions. Be on guard for yourselves and
all the flock. And what a sobering thing he
follows up with. This is the church that God himself purchased
with his own blood. He tells them with full confidence
that he knows what their future holds. He says, I know, verse
29, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves,
men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples
after them. It’s a prophecy. And so we don’t
need to examine how Paul knew this. Was it revelation? Was
it just wisdom that he had? These things are inevitable.
But we should examine whether this prophecy did come true,
because if it didn’t, what does that mean? Paul’s a false teacher. That’s one way to measure these
teachers. If they make prophecies, does
it come true? And we do see this come true
in the book of Revelation, where the Lord Himself is talking to
John. In Revelation 2, He said to John,
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the one who holds
the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among
the seven golden lampstands, says this, I know your deeds
and your toil and your perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate
evil men. And you put to the test those who call themselves
apostles, and they are not. And you found them to be false.
These weren’t, this wasn’t the Church of Ephesus disputing on
social media, but it had to be, I believe, people coming by the
Church of Ephesus that they rejected their teaching. People who claimed
to have the authority of an apostle, they were put to the test by
the Ephesian elders, they listened to Paul, and Paul’s prophecy
came true. And we also see traces of his
prophecy coming true in his letters to Timothy, but instead of going
there, I would like to bring it to our own day. Does this warning only apply
to the Ephesian church, the first century Ephesian church, or to
us also? Of course it applies to us also. And don’t think we can relax
because of some high level of understanding of scripture that
we have. The Ephesian church sat under the intense teaching
of Paul for three years. And have you ever read the letter
he wrote to them? It contains some deep theology. This was
no uninformed church, yet Paul found it important to warn them. Beware. We also should be on the lookout.
And it’s for that reason that I bring you to this passage this
morning. I want to remind you or help you be able to discern
danger when it’s right next to you. If you are a follower of
Christ, this message is for you and it is about your salvation.
It’s about the preservation of your life. But before we start
making applications, I want to take a closer look at verse 29
and 30. Some teach that verse 29 is talking about one kind
of threat and verse 30 another. That 29 is Paul warning about
persecutors coming into the church to kill the church. He does, after all, say that
this threat will come in, meaning it will be from without
coming in. He also says that these wolves,
as he calls them, will not spare the flock. The word spare here,
the same word is used by Peter. In 2 Peter, he’s talking about
God’s judgment and destruction of sinful angels in the ancient
world. Paul uses the same word in Romans
8 when he refers to God crushing his own son. And so we see there’s
physical harm, there’s death. And usually the word is denoting
that. So I can see how some people would think that Paul’s warning
against persecutors. And these people would then tell
you that verse 30 is about false teachers within the church. And
rightly so. Now, I don’t agree with this
position, but suppose I would, I could also make the argument
that they could come both in one, both persecutor and false
teacher. I could say this from experience because a few years
ago, After most of the church had left there was about six
of us left in the building One Sunday and this young man comes
in with a samurai sword hanging in front of him some of you remember
this and he comes in here and sits down and Ron and another
brother who saw this came in to talk to him and he had a message
from God and a 16-page letter, I believe it was. So he was both. And we know that this Holy Spirit
is no longer giving new revelations. So we could reject that idea
right away. But my point is, if I were to
take this position, I would say they can come in both, both persecutor
and false teacher. This man we now refer to as the
samurai prophet. Thanks to Barry. Another position here on what
Paul’s talking about here is that he’s talking about two different
kinds of false teachers, some from without and some from within.
There’s a third position that myself and others take, and that
is that Paul’s talking about all false teachers who are disguised
as Christians. We’re not talking about when
the New Testament, when we read in the New Testament about false
teachers, we’re not talking about those in Islam, but those who
would profess to be servants of Christ. That’s who I understand
to be talked about, referred to always as false teachers. So those who are disguised as
Christians is who Paul’s talking about in both verses. It’s only that verse 29 is a
metaphor, and then he switches to plain language in verse 30.
Yes, one does say will come in, and the other says from among
your own selves men will arise. But everyone who’s within came
from without at one point. So I think he’s saying the same.
He’s talking about the same in both verses. But even at their
apparently innocent entrance into the church, Paul calls them
savage wolves. He’s borrowing from the Lord’s
own warning to take heed. In Matthew 7, Beware of the false
prophets, our Lord said, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly are ravenous wolves. The warning is to beware of false
teachers who appear to be Christians, and will, if unattended to, destroy
the church. Now the word in Acts 20, which
some translate savage, the NAS translators do, it literally
means heavy. But I think he’s communicating
the same thing Jesus is in Matthew 7. The word Jesus uses is ravenous,
rapacious, which Merriam-Webster defines as excessive, grasping,
or covetous. It’s a greed. I want, I want. And Merriam-Webster gives a second
definition. That is living on prey. That describes wolves,
doesn’t it? stalk a herd and go in and take
the most vulnerable, the weakest and the unsuspecting. And that’s
a good illustration of us and the danger that some of us are
in. And I thought of, you know, a few categories in which we
could be in danger. Number one, the new believers
who there’s a lack of, let’s say, and I don’t say this in
any demeaning way. But when I was a new believer,
I had much to learn about the scriptures, and I still do. And
so being a new believer does make one vulnerable. There’s
the trials. The tests haven’t come along
yet, but they will. And so the new believer is in
a vulnerable spot and also the hurting. Those of us who were
hurting become vulnerable because we want that hurt to go away
and They promise you, the false teachers promise you that you
can have this, you can have healthy bodies. Give me your money and
you’ll have a healthy body, right? The desirous, desires, strong
desires, and I’ll talk more about that so I won’t speak too much
on it right now. But those with strong desires,
no matter how good it is, you’re vulnerable. And the proud, Proud
people are also vulnerable, unsuspecting, right? Because you think if you’re
proud that this doesn’t apply to you, there’s nothing to be
aware of. You need not heed this message. But what did Ron preach
on lately? First Corinthians 10, right?
Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. And so
let us not be proud, but humbly recognize that apart from God’s
grace, we would be deceived and led astray. So beware lest you
become prey like the calf, the newborn calf that the wolves
go in and attack. These wolves are looking for
someone to devour. They won’t spare you. The word
in Matthew 7 is also used to speak of robbers and extortioners.
And that’s what these wolves want to do. They want to rob
you away from the Lord himself. They want you to follow them. Now leaving the metaphor in verse
29 and going to the plain language that Paul speaks, he uses in
verse 30, that these men or women will arise out of our own congregations
and seek to draw people after them. to draw away the disciples
after them, he says. They want followers. And although
they may deceive you by saying that’s not the case, your concerns
are their interest. They’re lying to you. You’re
following them is their intent for their own personal gain,
and you’re following Christ is not what they’re concerned about. We’re told that they draw away
the disciples by speaking perverse things. The word perverse means
to distort, misinterpret, or corrupt. The primary thing that
Paul has in mind here is a distortion of God’s Word, misinterpreting
it, corrupting it. Most of you can identify a Joel
Osteen or a Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, those heretics who
are just blatantly wicked. You can identify those. You’re
not that gullible. So I don’t want you to think primarily about
those and not merely about those teachers who are openly whom
you recognize to be false teachers. But I want you to think more
on and consider more of those subtle dangers that are around.
They weren’t that openly, they weren’t that obvious false teachers
at one time. and I don’t think that they’re
a big threat to this congregation, so therefore I won’t spend much
time on men like those, but the subtle dangers. I do not think
that we’re an exception in this little church. Only a few years
ago, a Christian couple, old, in the faith for years, were
led astray. They were led by a young man
who was visiting, occasionally, who led them into Eastern Orthodoxy,
which is a group who holds to the Galatian heresy, that is,
justification by works. So don’t think that we as a little
congregation are outside of these churches, Paul’s
warning. you probably remember what the
Lord said about them, how we can identify them. You will know
them by their fruit. But you also know this, that
fruit takes time to bear. It takes time to come forth.
And even sometimes when it does come forth, it looks good, but
when you get into it, it’s not. It’s not good at all. So it takes
a closer examination in many cases. So when speaking to Timothy
about ordaining men into the ministry, it shouldn’t surprise
us that Paul said, do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily.
Why did he tell him that? It’s so that he doesn’t share
in their sin, he said. And so we need to be cautious,
and it takes time, especially for young men, to show what kind
of fruit is in us. Not to mention the training process
takes time. So my point there is it would be foolish to appoint
young men too quickly and that the fruit takes time to come
forth. And we need to prove ourselves. So I want you to think about
not merely those who we know to be false teachers, but those
whose fruit is still coming forth. Those who might need a closer
examination also. It’s for this reason that I want
to raise and answer three questions today. Number one, how do false
teachers mislead? Two, whom do false teachers mislead? And third, why are false teachers
successful in misleading? Number one, how do false teachers
mislead? How would you say they mislead? In verse 30 there in Acts chapter
28, Paul says they do so by speaking perverse things. Again, the word
perverse means to distort, misinterpret, corrupt. And as I mentioned,
the primary object they’re misinterpreting is the Word of God. But it could also be, and I think
it is in many cases, distorting the motives, actions, or words
of the shepherds of God’s flock. Their intention is to draw you
away, and so they have to get between you and the church leaders
somehow. It’s a fundamental step to turn
you away, or to turn you against your church, or at minimum to
turn you away from them. And they might even be doing
this without awareness. The scripture says in 2nd Timothy that evil
men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving
and being deceived. They themselves are deceived.
They could and most likely are doing this without even knowing
it. How often do we know our own
motives? Until the Lord shows us our hearts are so deceitful,
even as converted Christians, regenerate people. Our heart
deceives us. We don’t know our motives many
times until the Lord shows us. So how much more these? If they
are successful to any degree in causing animosity between
you and the elders or your church, it’s because you don’t see the
problem. You don’t see them as the problem. That’s the only way they can
have success. but rather your church, the church you’re a part
of. That’s the problem. So the question I’d like for
you to ask yourself this morning is, am I discontent with my church
and her leaders? And if yes, and this is key,
because you might have a complaint that is legit. But here’s the
underlining factor that I’m getting to. Has there been anyone who
informed you about this problem. You didn’t see it till it was
brought to you and now you see it. Has anyone informed you about
a problem in your church and now you share that concern? You
might say, yes, it’s a serious concern, however, it will almost
always seem that way if you only hear one side of the story. Jude calls these men grumblers
and fault finders. But they won’t grumble about
you. They want you to follow them. They won’t grumble about
you, but your church leaders most likely. You think they’re your best friends. And they have to give you that
impression, right? The moment you take their side,
You’re on dangerous ground. But as I said, it’s ultimately
comes down to a distortion of God’s word, a misinterpretation
of it that might not be presented to you immediately, but it’ll
come if this is who they prove to be. Turn to second Peter with me,
would you? Keeping your place in Acts and 2nd Peter throughout
the rest of this message because I’ll keep going back to 2nd Peter
again and again 2nd Peter chapter 2 In verse 3 he says, he talks
plainly, he says false teachers and that’s these savage wolves
we’re talking about. He says they will exploit you with false
words. That’s how they mislead, with
false words. They’ll take advantage of you. Now look at chapter 3, middle
of verse 15. Peter is bringing up Paul’s writing,
his fellow apostle. And in the middle of the verse
15, chapter 3, he says, Just as also our beloved brother Paul,
according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in
all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which
are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable
distort, as they do also the rest of Scripture, to their own
destruction. They distort it. They twist the
scriptures to say the things they want them to say, instead
of what the writers and the author, who is God himself, intended
to be understood. Authoral intent is everything.
This isn’t a book we can just make mean whatever we want it
to mean. There’s objective truths. It’s a real historical account.
We saw that as Alan read Paul’s trip. There’s records of trips.
It’s a historical account. What did the author intend to
be understood? That’s important, but they don’t
care about that. They distort it to their own destruction,
Peter says. So it shouldn’t be necessary for me to tell you
that you don’t want to follow them. These unstable teachers distort
what God said by taking words out of context, by forgetting
and or forgetting what the rest of the scriptures say. And therein
lies the danger, right? What they say is believable if
you don’t look beyond the passage they’re pointing to. As a friend
of mine says, you can make a verse say whatever you want if you
torture it enough. Now, I don’t have time to go
into detail today on these heresies, but I did want to mention four
ancient heresies that come, are still present today, just in
different forms, and you might not recognize the name, but number
one, the Galatian heresy, that which the Galatians were being
taught by those false teachers among them, that is justification
by works, that you can pay for your sin by doing good works. just some denominations who hold
to that today is Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, as I mentioned earlier,
Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses. Now a Catholic might hear this
and say, I’m Catholic, but I don’t believe that I’m justified by
my works. And I would tell that individual,
well, you’re not Catholic. It is fair to refer to a group according to what their creed
says. And the Catholic’s creed does
anathematize those who say justification is by faith alone. It’s been
like that since Luther’s day. Still there. So we can talk about
them as a group. And if you’re a Catholic and
you don’t believe that, come out from among them. Because
you’re not a Catholic. Modalism. You’ve probably heard
of this. It’s a denial of the Trinitarian
Godhead. Some who hold to this today,
T.D. Jakes, and the United Pentecostal Church, Mormons also. They deny
that Christ is the supreme God also. What verse will they show you?
God is one. There’s only one God, right?
Well, look at the rest of the scriptures. Look at what Jesus
taught. Montanism is another one. Ancient heresy. They insisted
that the Holy Spirit still gives new revelation. Now, some who would say there’s
many, but most of them are under this one banner, and it’s the
mainstream charismatic church. And notice I said mainstream.
There are some who would refer to themselves as charismatic.
Those are around the fringe. But if you get to the heart of
the movement, you have Kenneth Copeland, you have Joel Osteen. These blatantly false teachers
are a part of the charismatic movement. They’re at the heart
of it. So it’s not a misrepresentation to refer to the mainstream charismatic
movement as heretical. And then there’s the heresy of
Arianism, which tells you that Christ is less than God. And
this the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses and others hold to
also. But I can’t spend much time on on any of those, but
I just want to get back to how false teachers mislead, and whom
they mislead, and why they’re successful. So continuing on
the point of how they mislead, not only do they speak perverse
things, but they do so secretly. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verse
1. But false prophets also arose
among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among
you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” Now, this
secret introduction of heresies may not be what initially comes
to our mind. We might think of this false
teacher taking one of our own into some private corner and
communicating error to him. Now, this could be included,
and many times it is, but I don’t think that’s the primary thing
that Peter has in mind here when he’s talking about secretly introducing.
It’s actually one word in the Greek, secretly introduce, as
it’s translated. This is what the Expositor’s
Greek Testament has to say. The idea of stealth or secrecy
that is stealthily to introduce, is hardly in accord with their
character described elsewhere. Rather, the idea seems to be
the introduction of false teaching alongside the true. False teaching
alongside the true. And if you look at the Greek
word, it’s two different words put together as one. One word
meaning from beside of, beside. Para is the English use of that
word. We have the term para-church.
And the other part of the word means to bring in, introduce.
So it comes alongside the true. And many of you know that this
is how they deceive people, is because they also speak much
truth. Many things that are true. They
couldn’t deceive you if they didn’t speak some truth. but then they drop in a lie that
distorts the whole thing. Not just any lie, but something
that is compromising to the faith. Just as you wouldn’t want a drink
of water, pure glass of water, but I drop a few drops of cyanide
in it. Distorts the whole thing, right?
So in the same way, those who follow these teachers who speak
many truths but drop in a deadly lie, they too are in danger.
So be on your guard against men and women of this kind who could
lead you to destruction. This is why your own personal
study, along with the helps of solid Christians, commentaries,
your brethren around you, many different sources of help, that’s
why that’s important to you, your own personal study. Moving on to the second point,
whom Do false teachers mislead? Whom do they mislead? I’ve already
alluded to this many times. Whom would you say they mislead? And you might think of Joel Osteen
and his followers, just those lost people who hate God, but
he’s tickling their ears. But it’s not just those, okay? Who does Paul talk about in Acts
20? He says, from among your own
selves, in verse 30, men will arise speaking perverse things
to draw away the disciples after them. Paul’s concern, as well
as my own, isn’t about the unconverted world at this point. And this
message is not about them, but it’s about you, those who follow
Christ. That’s Paul’s concern, and I
share that. We wouldn’t bother bringing this
up to you if the threat wasn’t against you. Most of you know
of someone or have heard of someone who was walking in the faith
at one point in his life and now rejects the faith or doesn’t
necessarily openly reject it, but is proving to be a heretic. And this bewilders us in many
cases, doesn’t it? We’re just bewildered, especially
as a reforming people. the sovereignty of God over the
salvation of our souls. And I’m not denying that. Let
me get to that in a moment. But apostasy is real. And we’re bewildered
when it happens because our biblical theology doesn’t permit for it.
And so I would challenge you to re-examine your biblical theology.
Does it allow for apostasy? The New Testament’s full of examples
that not all who begin to follow Christ continue to follow Christ. Where would you have me to go?
The parable of the soils, gospel of john, the book of Hebrews.
The whole book of Hebrews was written to discourage people
from departing the faith, to encourage them to stay in the
faith. The pastoral epistles, many places in there. Paul talks
about warning against those who warning against apostasy. Now
it’s absolutely true that the elect cannot be misled to the
point of going to hell. That’s absolutely true. But here’s,
I think, the thing we often forget or just don’t have in our biblical
theology, and that is we don’t always know who that is. It isn’t
everyone who believes in one way or another. We could go on
and talk about the different kinds of beliefs there are, those
who persevere and those who don’t. There’s some variance in that.
There’s a difference in the faith that is there, but that’s not
my point. We don’t know who all is elect
until there’s fruit that is born. And this seems to be the litmus
test. According to my study, from my study, I think it comes
down to these two things. Number one, will you suffer for
Christ’s sake? Will you suffer for him? When
trials and difficulties come, and they will if you’re a Christian,
Will you persevere? Or will you throw in the towel
and say, I can’t do this and go back to the world? If you persevere, you’re proving
yourself to be elect. And we see that in Paul, when he writes
the Thessalonians, he recognizes, he acknowledges their perseverance
in the faith and their steadfastness of hope, their labor of love.
And so it is by that he could say with confidence, I know you’re
one of the elect. I know you’re God’s choice of you. But new
believers, this is not something we can tell immediately. And
the second thing is, will you continue to walk in the truth?
Or will you believe lies that you’re told and follow those
liars? So Paul’s given this warning
to the church and her leaders. It’s God’s sheep that these wolves
want to destroy. The devil is the father of these
savage wolves, and they want you. They want you. That’s who
they’re after. You’re their target. Listen to 1 Timothy 4.1. But the Spirit explicitly says
that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith. Some
will fall away from the faith. It’s real. It happens. In Galatians,
Paul tells them that they have fallen from grace, which implies
they were covered by grace at one point. But when they believe
the lies, that they can be justified by something they do, apart from
what Christ has done, adding to the cross, adding to the ministry,
the work of Christ, it’s a lie. And it’ll lead to your death.
And so these who were covered by grace at one time, no longer
were. And maybe they repented, and
maybe they ended up proving themselves to be elect. But for a moment,
they were deceived, and were going down the path of destruction. There’s a second group I saw
in scripture whom, but let me say this one more thing before
we go there. Matthew Henry, in writing, in commenting on Acts
20, writes this. Therefore, take heed to yourselves. When you are told that some of
you shall betray the gospel, you are each of you concerned
to ask, is it I? Is it I? There’s a second group I see
in the scriptures that I wanted to point out, and that is burdened
sinners. In 2 Timothy 3, He says, these wolves enter into households
and captivate weak women weighed down with sin. They go after
the weak women weighed down with sin. But I’m unaware of anyone
in our congregation like that. And so I wasn’t going to spend
any time on this point. But if you are, please come talk to
me because you’re in a vulnerable position. If you are burdened
with sin, please come talk to me. Moving on to the third and final
question, why are false teachers successful and misleading? Why
do you think they’re successful? An Acts 20 poll says that these
wolves will seek to draw away disciples after them. And this
tells us two things that I haven’t mentioned yet. Number one, that
this man is either working his way toward the door or he’s already
departed. And number two, he’s now trying
to draw you after him. How do you think he’s going to
draw you? He’s going to draw you. He’s not going to force
you in anything. The first thing I thought of
was your desires. Your desires. I told you I would talk more
on this. It’s going to get at your affections. Brethren, these teachers are
your enemies, but your desires, if not controlled, are in one
sense your worst enemy. They’re your worst enemy. I think
of the parable of the soils where Jesus has given us four different
kinds of listeners. And the one kind was the one
who heard and believed. There was a plant that grew up,
but then there was thorn bushes that grew up over it faster.
And it caused that faith to not produce any fruit, the plant.
And what was that? Well, one of the things he likened
to that thorn bush was desires, our desires. And I think of these false teachers
as those who would come along and water and nourish this plant.
They’ll promise you things that you desire. Those things that are appealing
to the flesh. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 17 through 19. It says, these, speaking of false
teachers, are springs without water and mist driven by a storm
for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out
arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by
sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live
in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves
of corruption. For by what a man is overcome,
by this he is enslaved. So my appeal to you is that you
control your desires, no matter how good they are. No matter
how good they are. But some are not good. At least
in my own life, I found that many times I had desires that
just were not good. And so there is that putting off of the old
and putting on the new. But there’s also good desires
that can be a cause of trouble for us if we don’t get them under
control. It’s the idols of the heart that
Ron had been preaching about, that I’m talking about here.
Anything among all the affections of your heart, whether it’s spouse
or children, or the desire to have one or both of those, or
retirement, the list could go on and on. Good things. But if you’re a Christian, you
will at one point in your life, and probably many, many points
in your life, be put to the test. Who has first place in your life?
Does Christ or something you desire, a loved one? Will you remain with Him if it
costs you everything else? Will you remain with Him? And so not only their desires,
your desires is something that is used against you to give them
success in misleading you, but also that they start out as Christians. And I would add as some kind
of Christian. They certainly appear to be that
way. And look at what Peter says in chapter two, verse 20. and following, for if after they
have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so they had knowledge
of the Lord and they escaped the defilements of the world,
they were under grace to some extent here, they are again entangled
in them and are overcome. The last state has become worse
for them than the first. For it would be better for them
to not have known the way of righteousness than having known
it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
It has happened to them according to the true proverb. A dog returns
to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing
in the mire. And so, by all means, they appear
to be Christians in the beginning, and to some, they are some form
of Christian, at least. And that’s another thing that
makes this man very dangerous. He comes into our church. He’s
one of us. He’s a godly man. He’s a Christian. He’s a brother. But according
to Acts chapter 20 verse 30, it’s when he arises and starts
to speak, that’s when the trouble begins. And it just goes downhill from
there. It eventually leads to an attempt by Him to pit you
against your church and to come follow Him. So, the third thing that is used
against you in deceiving you, and this we see in the book of
Jude. If you still have your place
in 2 Peter, turn past the short letters of John to the book of
Jude. Look at verse 16. Judah is also
warning about false teachers here. And he says this. These are grumblers, finding
fault, following after their own lusts. They speak arrogantly,
flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. They
flatter people. They’re really nice people. They’re
pleasant to be around. They appreciate the good things
about us, all the good things about us. They come off as good
friends, not to mention a brother in Christ, as we talked about. Young men, please listen to me. These men are disguised as your
best friend. Okay? Take note of that. They’re not boring and no fun.
You know, like elders and those spiritual minded people who are
always in our study, who actually care about your soul. You know,
they’re fun to be around. They like doing all the good
things you like, the fun things you like to do. These wolves know how to manipulate
you and how to win over your favor. Do you really know who your friends
are? Is it the one who likes to do
all the fun things you do? Or is it the one who commits
himself to the word and prayer? Who cares about you? Who then
tells you things you don’t want to hear? Remember the proverb, Proverb
27, verse 6, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful
are the kisses of an enemy. is the one whom you enjoy doing
the fun stuff with. Is he really your friend? He
could be. He could be. But he could also
be your enemy. Now, please don’t misunderstand
me. I don’t want you to look around at everybody with suspicion. That’s not what I want you to
do. But I do want you to beware of the subtle dangers, the red
flags that pop up. and then back up a little bit.
Examine that a little closer. You don’t have to come at everybody
with suspicion, but keep these things in mind that are red flags.
I want you to be aware of the early stages of this deadly teacher. I want you to have prudence.
The proverb says that he who is prudent sees evil coming and
he hides himself. But the naive go on and suffer
harm. So pray for prudence. I want
you to think biblically and not according to your emotions. Do
you have an Absalom in your life who affirms you in everything?
Speaks pleasant words to you. But in doing so, he’s turning
your heart away from the king. You say, no, this man loves the
king also. Does he? Does he? You will know them by
their fruits. Is he impacting your relationship
with your local church in a negative way? Because, and I’m assuming
the local church you’re part of is biblical in this statement. Now, I didn’t say problem free,
but biblical. There is I was going to say one
church that I know of that’s problem free. That is the one
in glory, but they too still have a problem. And that is we
see a cry at the altar, when will you bring justice upon those
who have shed our blood? And the other problem they have
is disembodied spirits. But those are quite minor to
the problems we have. But if you want to join that
church, come talk to me. We might be able to arrange something. I stole that from our own elder.
You’ve heard him say many times that Christian men, you need
to be ready to preach, pray or die. I walk in the door one Sunday
morning and he asks me that. And having had a bad week, I
chose the third option. And he shocked me when he said,
oh, I’ll see if I can arrange something. But if your relationship with
the local church is being impacted negatively by this individual,
he’s not showing himself to be a lover of the Lord. If he’s a grumbler, as Jude calls
him, if he’s finding fault you know, not in any unpleasant ways,
that there could chase you off and no longer follow him, but
he’s sharing his concern in a pious way, you know, as a Christian
would. He shares his problem with you
in a civil manner. The issue that he takes with
the church that you’re a part of, maybe he’s still a part of,
and now you share the same concern. Now you share that same concern.
After all, his complaint is valid. You see his point. If I just
described you, you should fear, because that puts you in a dangerous
spot. You could be being drawn away by an enemy. I think of
Ron’s words. If you have known Ron for any
amount of time, you might know, you may have heard him say this,
If someone, if a brother comes to you and complains about another
brother, what should you do? Well, here’s Ron’s advice, and
I like it. He says, respond to him in this
way. I’ll give you one week or two
weeks, whatever, to go share this concern with that brother
you’re talking about, and then I’m going to come follow up,
make sure you did it. And so I think that that’s a wise approach. Do you have a friend in your
life who despises authority? As Jude says, these false teachers
do. In verse 8 of the letter of Jude there. Do you have a
friend who disagrees with the church leaders you’re a part
of and he won’t submit himself to them? Are you aware of his
complaint and are now being drawn to his side? Because there are
now sides. The sides exist. He causes division,
as Jude says in verse 19. And on this causing division,
some render this as separating themselves. Regardless of how you translate
it, a separation of the man is there. There are sides, and He wants
you on His side. And apart from God’s grace, He
will win you over, away from the flock, away from the shepherding
care of the elder, and he’ll lead you to destruction. For that reason, beware, beware. I’ll close with the last words
we have from the Apostle Peter. Look at 2 Peter 3 verse 17. You, therefore, beloved, knowing
this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away
by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. To him be the glory, both now
and to the day of eternity. Amen. Would you pray with me?