Wolves in the Church

Intro:

This past week, there was an event in an Ugandan forest. Hundreds of Ugandan Christians gathered there to await the rapture of the church. Many camped out waiting for two days. They were convinced by a S African pastor that the rapture would occur between Sept 23-24 of 2025. But the church is still here. Jesus never came!

The pastor, Joshua Mhalkela wrote on social media leading up to the predicted date,

“Please keep waiting. He is coming in two weeks time, on September 23. I am giving you his word and my word. The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not. There is a storm brewing right now and is ready to take over the world. This date cannot be disproven. People are saying a lot of things, but not about this date. What I am telling you is coming straight from the mouth of the Almighty God," he claimed.”

HMM. Straight from the mouth of a false god maybe. This type of unrealized prophecy is nothing new but if history has shown us anything is there is a sucker born every minute.

Today, as you can imagine, we are going to talk about False Teachers in the church. They are not a new concept. They have been around since the beginning of the fall of man.

First we will focus on identifying the wolves in the church. Secondly, we must respond appropriately to them.

1. Identifying Wolves in the Church

A. OT examples

You could say Satan was the first false teacher, spewing lies about God to his people. Satan’s servants have continued his wicked ways throughout the history of the church. Sadly, believers have fallen prey to them consistently throughout that history as well.

Moses warned about them in Deuteronomy 13:1–5

“1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.”

How did God instruct them to deal with false prophets and teachers? They were to kill them. Of course, that is not a command for us today. Instead of striking false teachers down in blood, we simply reject them, cast them from the church and leave them to the judgment of a mighty and wrathful God.

Look with me at Ezekiel 13:1–15 “1 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord! 3 ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. 4 “O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. 5 “You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6 “They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The Lord declares,’ when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. 7 “Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?” ’ ” 8 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord God. 9 “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord God. 10 “It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; 11 so tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, O hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will break out. 12 “Behold, when the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, ‘Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?’ ” 13 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “I will make a violent wind break out in My wrath. There will also be in My anger a flooding rain and hailstones to consume it in wrath. 14 “So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the Lord. 15 “Thus I will spend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash; and I will say to you, ‘The wall is gone and its plasterers are gone,”

B. NT Examples

Friends, this is not an OT problem for the Lord himself saw great examples of his day with the religious leaders of Israel who were leading the nation away from the Lord’s commands. He called them out, cast light on them and exposed them for what they were.

Matthew 7:15 “15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Jesus called them:

broods of vipers (Mt 12)

wolves in sheep’s clothing

sons of the devil (Jn 8)

whitewashed tombs (Mt 23)

blind guides (Mt 23)

All of these are examples of the way in which Satan sends forth his workers of iniquity to disrupt the flourishing of the gospel across the world.

Let’s look first at the characteristics of false teachers as Peter describes them and then we will return to 2 Thes 2 and consider the response to these wolves in the church.

2 Peter 2:1–3 “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, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Their actions are covert, deceptive, and secretive (1)

They secretly smuggle in bad doctrine into the church like cartels smuggle drugs into this country. It is always covert and subtle. Paul says in his 2nd letter to Corinthian church:

2 Corinthians 11:13–15

“13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.”

They teach a distorted gospel message with distorted doctrine about God and his church (1)

This is the case with the Thessalonians church and every false prophet. They are guilty of twisting what is true about God and distorting it for personal gain. In Thessalonica, wolves came in after Paul’s letter to twist the doctrine of the 2nd coming of Christ. Paul refers back to that in 2 Thessalonians 2:5

“5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?”

Paul warns Timothy about these false teachers in 1 Tim 1

1 Timothy 1:7 “7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”

In the case at Ephesus, Paul is instructing Tim to rebuke the false teachers while exposing their lack of true understanding about the things by which they are teaching. You may ask if they should merely be considered as teaching “accidental error” and not trying to be malicious. But any false teaching is intentional and seeking to malign God message for some form of personal advantage. False teachers are not ones like Apollos who needed to be corrected by Aquila and Priscilla. No, false teachers have an internal agenda. Distorting the message leads to some prize for them. This is the third characteristic.

They teach falsely for personal gain.

In v 3 of 2 Peter 1, we read:

2 Peter 2:3 “3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

We could say that just like their father the Devil, these false teachers are seeking fame and fortune as they disrupt the church. Satan is portrayed in the Scriptures as seeking the glory of God. This is the same with false teachers, wanting their own advancement, prestige, and fame. Paul told the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20 that fierce wolves will come and try to “draw away disciples after them.” These false teachers want their own disciples, to join with them in their destruction. No false teacher can exist without an audience who gives him attention.

Secondly, their appetite is greed. They want to exploit you as Peter says. They are in false teaching for the fiscal benefits. The prosperity gospel has been shown us just how corrupt and greedy these false teachers are. Prosperity Gospel preachers steal millions away from hopeless and gullible Americans every year. One of the most nefarious is Kenneth Copeland whose estimated net worth is 300 million and upward. He is a worker of evil and the servant to the devil.

Romans 16:18 “18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”

2. Responding to Wolves in the Church

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3 “1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

How do the sheep respond to the presence of wolves among them?

A. Discipline of the Mind

V. 2 tells us to “not be quickly shaken from our composure”. The Literal wording is unsettled in your mind. The term shaken referred to ships who were tied tightly by their ropes to the dock where shaken loose by the violent storm. Paul is thus teaching the church to become unsettled in mind when certain false doctrines are introduced.

What is your mind anchored to? Your mind is anchored to the unchanging truth of God’s word. Satan wants you to doubt like Adam and Eve did asking Did God really say this? Will God actually do what he says? Can I trust God’s word?

The second term that is used here “disturbed by a spirit, or message, or letter” signifies an anxious heart regarding the truth about God. It seems that false teachers had infiltrated and became claiming some false doctrine about the second coming and were claiming “from the apostles.”

These are all ways that Satan wants to shake us loose from His anchoring in our lives.

Spurgeon writes,

2 Thessalonians Exposition

When men lose the present comfort of plain gospel doctrines they are very apt to begin speculating, and in carnal heat foretelling the coming of the Lord. They left the patient waiting that is our duty for a fevered prophesying that is nowhere encouraged in the word of God….A man does not wait patiently when he is low in spirit and weary at heart. Let a man (get) his own heart right with God and be at peace, and he can quietly wait until Christ comes even though the Lord shall delay His coming for many a day. But when everything is tossed about, and our hope grows dim and our fellowship is broken and our zeal is burning low, we jump at anything that will end the struggle and enable us to avoid further effort

In other words, Spurgeon reminds us that our own impatience can lead to a change of mind about core doctrines, simply because they require great faith to believe them. For the Thessalonians, waiting on the Lord to return led to some to fall to impatience and then worry and then a belief in false teaching that Jesus had already come in some spiritual manner.

Let me say also that not only do false doctrines being taught lead us to be unsettled in our doctrine, but circumstances do as well. Circumstances press down on us and tempt us to change what we believe about God. For Job’s wife, it was “curse God and die.” We forget that what was happening to Job was also happening to his wife. Her response exposed her unbelief in God’s powerful faithfulness but even Christians fall into temporary unbelief when our troubles seem too great for God to handle.

I do not know if you have picked up on this recent trend in the Protestant church, but men and women who seemed solid in their doctrine and belief about God are turning to Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. One reason seems to be the frustration with the protestantism that is all over the map in their doctrines about the church, about the leadership in the church, about the form and structure of worship. In their frustration, they are turning to the EO and RC churches because generally their form and structure of worship and their church leadership has not changed for hundreds of years. But in this, they are forsaking clear doctrinal teaching for doctrinal error. They are being convinced by false teachers that they have been taught erroneously by their former pastors and elders. In this case, their frustration with the way Protestant churches have been unfaithful to Scritpure has led them to forsake proper teaching.

Paul’s message for the church in Thessalonica is both a negative and a postive.

V. 3- Let No One Deceive You

Protect your mind and heart by being disciplined to know what you believe and do not give Satan a crevice of room to enter into your life and lure you away. In our conspiracy driven reality these day, we can easily be convinced that if the government is lying to us and the medical community is lying to us, then the church must be as well. This is FOOLISH and SATANIC thinking. The government and the medical community may be dishonest, but the church is Spirit led, Christ centered, the God ordained.

V. 15- 2 Thessalonians 2:15 “15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”

Let us see that Paul also gives the positive command: CONTINUE IN STEADFASTNESS in your faith. How can we remain steadfast? We do not waver from what we were taught but we arrest or seize the traditions that have been passed down. I am going to devote an entire message to this verse in a few weeks, but simply let me say that traditions here mean “truths of the word of God and the practices of it.” The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches have taught this verse erroneously saying that we need more than the authority of the word of God in our lives. We also need the traditions of men passed down in order to properly grow and mature in our faith. This is contrary to the truth of Sola Scriptura that was taught by the Reformers and in protestant churches throughout history. Scipture alone is idea that God has given us all we need for our faith to mature and grow in the words of God found in our Bibles.

Therefore stand firm in what was written and handed down by Christ to his church. When false teachers try and convince you otherwise, do not be deceived. Stand firm in the foundation of your faith, who is Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:1 “1 Beloved, 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.”

What John means is for believers to examine that which is true according to God’s word. This word was given by inspriation of the Holy Spirit but there are doctrines of demons, spirits that are out there as well. Examine them and test then to make sure what you believe is actually what the Scriptures say.

B. Discipline of the Church

Eventually, Paul gets to actions steps that the church should take against these false teachers.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 “6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”

Romans 16:17 “17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.”

The followers of Jesus Christ should understand that those who teach false doctrines should always be avoided. When the examination leads to evidence of false teaching, there is no other choice but to avoid them at all cost.

But avoiding them in not enough. The church must do what is necessary to protect the flock when wolves are in their midst. Paul instructs Titus:

Titus 1:9 “9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”

Our goal as believers in the church is not simply to avoid false teaching, but we also must be vocal in refuting it. This is not about hurting someones feelings. We must be faithful to be vocal against false doctrine so that other simply and immature Christians do not fall into this pit of destruction.

In the case of Apollos, Ananias and Sapphira were successful in correcting false teaching from Apollos in the early church. If the person teaching falsely repents of their error, then consider him a brother or sister in Christ. This leads us to consider the reality that any of us can have temporary wolflike actions but still be a sheep.

But those who remain in false doctrine and teaching of such heresy, the church must act firmly to rebuke them openly and cast them out. Now Paul instructs Titus as a pastor to lead the charge in public discipline of those unrepentant false teachers.

Titus 3:10 “10 Reject a factious man after a first and second warning,”

To Timothy, Paul writes

1 Timothy 1:19–20 “19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”

Paul actually disciplined these two men Hymeneus and Alexander who were not repentant and cast away from the church.

Connect to Lords Supper:

Guarding the good deposit- truth communicated Guard the flock from wolves Guard the function of the church - worship in Spirit and truth

Lords Supper:

Isaiah 53