“The Symptoms of False Teaching”
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Open with Prayer.
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3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
When we look back into the history of our world we have seen some very deadly pandemics. Many of us have read about the Black Death plague which killed millions of people. We read about influenza that occured at the beginning of the 1900’s. And of course we have been dealing with the craziness of the Covid-19 Pandemic. But more deadly than any of these pandemics and diseases, there is the pandemic or disease of false teaching, and this has seriously afflicted many people including the church. Just ask any of the reformers like Calvin or Luther about the problem at hand. You may be here tonight and say why is this such a big deal? Here is why this is such a big problem. While a virus or illness can kill the body, false teaching and false teachers can lead people straight to hell. And this is why Paul knows this to be so deadly and is so outspoken against false teaching. He begins first Timothy with addressing this issue and comes back to it once again.
So, like many plagues and diseases scientists and doctors have to observe and study the cause of what is happening. We call this pathology which is the study of the abnormal elements that cause or characterize the disease. Doctors want to study a disease so that they will know how to recognize it and then fight it.
Just like the medical world we as church leaders and pastors need to be on the watch or alert for the spiritual health of our people, the bride of Christ. We need to be aware of the deadly disease of false teaching, so that our people are not infected by the teaching that could potentially lead them astray. We know that Paul warned his people of the satanic lies that were spreading at an alarming rate. Here is what he said in 2 Corinthians.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
One of the things that we learn here is that it really does take some spiritual discernment to see that often times false teaching can look good, feel good, sound good because the light is really darkness. And so, what Paul is giving to Timothy here in chapter 6 are some symptoms that show us people who have been infected by and through false teaching. One of the first things that we see is a glaring trademark.
1. The Trademark of False Teachers!
1. The Trademark of False Teachers!
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
Over the past few years I have got into the craft of taking old baseball gloves and turning them into men’s wallets. The old baseball gloves all had a trademark stamped into the glove. Some had Rawlings, others had Spalding, Wilson, Franklin etc. The glove has a trade mark to tell it apart from other gloves. When it came to false teaching there were some marks by which you could clearly tell.
Paul here gives Timothy and the church a warning to watch out for false teaching. The first mark, or symptom of false teachers is what they stand for.
a. A false teacher teaches a different doctrine. This is talking about any teaching that contradicts God’s revelation of Scripture. False teaching may take on many different forms. Here is what I mean.
-It could deny the existence of God.
-It could deny certain attributes about God, like the Trinity.
-It could deny and teach errors about the person and work of Christ.
-It could deny the Virgin Birth of Christ.
-It could deny the sinless person of Christ.
-It could deny the death and bodily resurrection of Christ.
-False teachers could also deny the authenticity, inspiration, authority and inerrancy of God’s Word. We see this happening at an alarming rate today in many seeker-sensitive churches.
So, in order for us to be on guard against this type of false teaching we ourselves have to be grounded in God’s Word men. If we know what God’s Word says then when we hear something that does not line up with it or is contrary then we can say this is not right, it is false teaching. May we be men who have a strong desire to know God’s Word.
14 I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
There should come a time in our lives men where we get off the bottle of spiritual milk which are the basic things in God’s Word and we begin to dig in to the more difficult matters of God’s Word and feed on the juicy steak. We are no longer spiritual infants because we are growing in our knowledge of sound doctrine and can see error for what it is.
27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The primary function of elders/pastors is to feed the sheep a steady diet of God’s Word. When pastors do this the people can be on guard against false teaching and grow in their maturity.
b. the second mark is what false teachers deny. They don’t agree with sound words. The word sound here comes from the english word hygiene. False teachers are not in agreement with spiritually good and beneficial words. This is why the church needs healthy teaching from God’s Word. When we have a high view of God’s Word and a low view of man’s opinion then we can spot false teaching. Healthy, Scriptural teaching helps believers to grow.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
One way to spot false teachers it to see what they teach about. False teachers are not committed to Scripture. They will teach on relevant topics, leadership issues, sports, movies, music or other culturally relevant topics. They will add to God’s Word or even take away from it. They can even deny it all together which is so sad.
c. Finally, the third mark is the rejection of the doctrine that lines up with godliness. The ultimate test of any teaching is to see that is produces godliness or right living. Teaching that is not based on God’s Word results in people living however they want because there is no standard. Godliness here translates piety or reverence, a likeness to God. In Matthew chapter 7 we see that we know Christians by the fruit in their lives. A true believer has a love for God and a love to follow Christ by living for Him.
2. The Mindset of False Teachers!
2. The Mindset of False Teachers!
4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
The major mindset or attitude of all false teachers comes back to one word. PRIDE! They are conceited. Paul here uses the phrase, “puffed up with conceit.” This word means that a false teacher is blowing smoke or full of hot air. It implies that false teachers are arrogant. They teach their own message and become puffed up because people will follow them because their message is catchy and contrary to what God’s Word says.
Because a false teacher is filled with pride, Paul says here in reality they understand nothing. Left to our own wisdom, creativity and smarts men with know nothing. That is why we must teach God’s Word. Anything else is just foolishness to God.
Instead of making the main focus on the truth of God’s Word false teachers have a weird and crazy interest on controversial things and quarrels about words. The result of all of this is many questions and disputes about words. Let me give you a few examples of this.
-There are some false teachers who want to debate that God created the earth and the universe in six literal twenty-four-hour days. Some false teachers reject biblical truth and teach the false theory of evolution.
-Also many critics have attacked the New Testament. They deny the traditional view that God is the designed author and inspired men to write what He gave them. Many false teachers refuse to accept the Gospels as true historical accounts and would go as far to say that they are just a collection of myths made up by Christ’s followers after His death. So, we must be on guard against this sickness and false teaching.
3. The Results of False Teachers!
3. The Results of False Teachers!
4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
Notice here that there are several results of what false teachers look like! The main reason that false teaching is so deadly is because it looks good, and it can even look like it is truthful, however it fails to produce godliness. It does not bring about unity. In fact, the results of false teaching is chaos and confusion. People do not hear the truth of God’s Word and they are left confused. So, let’s take a look at these results.
-Envy. Envy is the inward discontent with the advantages of popularity enjoyed by others. We envy others lives and what they have in many ways today. So many people are discontent because their contentment is based on the things of this world instead of Christ.
(Book, “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment)
-The result of being envious of others is strife or dissension. We see this so often today through abusive language and slander or insult. Abusive language consists of evil suspicions, which actually means someone has evil motives or wrong motives towards others.
-The bottom line of all this is that there will be constant friction or constant problems. False teachers will constantly rub each other as well as other people the wrong way. False teaching can never produce or bring about unity and truth. What is truth? Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. His word, the Bible is truth and life and it helps us as believers to live in such a way that is unified.
Another result of false teachers is that they have a depraved mind. They are deceived by Satan and they are ultimately depraved because they are not truly saved.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
This type of mindset does not react normally to truth because it does not understand the things of God, and not understanding those things helps us to see that false teachers do not have the mind of Christ. They are opposed to God and His word and teach false things which are errors, they lead people astray.
This leads us to a final result and that is false teachers are deprived of the truth. Deprived here means to steal or rob. This indicates that someone or something pulled them away from the truth. These false teachers were exposed or saw the truth, however they flat out rejected it. As a result they have gone astray from the truth.
18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.
Those false teachers and even people who are deprived of the truth are headed for God’s judgment. The author of Hebrews helps us to understand this better.
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
These type of people keep crucifying Christ over and over again and they put Him to open shame. All of this shows us the sad results of those false teachers who continually walk and teach errors.
4. The Heart and Motive of False Teachers!
4. The Heart and Motive of False Teachers!
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
False teachers have one main motivation and that is money. We see this a lot today with the health and wealth prosperity gospel preachers. They assume and suppose that godliness will bring them such gain. While there is nothing wrong with money, Paul is very quick to point out that the love of money is wrong because at it’s root there are all kinds of evils. We will talk more about this later. Paul’s point here is that greed betrays impure motives and marks people as false teachers.
When you look at false teachers more closely you can see that behind it all is that false teachers deny the truth, and ultimately their teaching does not produce godly living. In fact it produces worldly living and living for more stuff and more things. False teachers are arrogant and ignorant of spiritual truth. Many false teachers spend their time in foolish speculations that lead only to more chaos, confusion, and division. They forsake the truth and lead others astray. They serve money and this earth and have ultimately turned their backs and hearts against God and His Word.
And to this we as men must be on Guard against. We must have a love for God’s Word so that we can see clearly what is truth and what is not.
Any Questions?
Close in Prayer.