How Do We Discern False Teachers?

00:00:00.000 | Well, how do we discern false teachers?

00:00:07.760 | It's a hot topic in our inbox.

00:00:09.280 | It's always been a hot topic in our inbox.

00:00:12.840 | And here is one representative email sent in by a listener to the podcast named Criker.

00:00:17.720 | "Hello Pastor John, I'm a huge fan and love listening to these podcast episodes.

00:00:22.360 | APJ has really helped me grow in my faith and convictions as well as in making me better

00:00:27.880 | at helping others in their own struggles.

00:00:30.640 | Amen."

00:00:31.640 | Let me just stop there.

00:00:33.120 | Criker, that is one reason why this podcast exists, to see that you are being equipped

00:00:38.720 | to help the people in your life in their moments of need.

00:00:41.720 | That's so encouraging to read that.

00:00:43.840 | Okay, back to Criker's question.

00:00:45.400 | "My question is this.

00:00:46.640 | The Bible gives us a lot of warnings about false teachers, but how can I identify if

00:00:50.800 | someone on the internet I listen to is a false teacher themselves?

00:00:55.120 | A number of people have been accused of being false teachers.

00:00:58.680 | Pastor John, what should I be looking for?"

00:01:00.600 | Well, I would start by saying, don't set the bar so low that you only stop listening to

00:01:10.640 | people if they can be properly called false teachers.

00:01:18.200 | Lots of people are teachers who are simply misguided and unhelpful in many ways, but

00:01:25.800 | might not come under the ban of being called a false teacher.

00:01:31.840 | Set your standards high.

00:01:33.680 | Listen to people who are truly God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, Spirit-dependent,

00:01:41.200 | who bear the marks in their lives of authenticity.

00:01:44.980 | But since you asked about identifying false teaching and false teachers, let me give you

00:01:51.640 | four biblical ways to assess whether someone is a false teacher.

00:01:58.640 | I do this just because the Bible agrees with you that we should be alert to the reality

00:02:04.120 | of false teachers, and it gives us tests.

00:02:07.880 | First, there's the test of the fruit of their lives.

00:02:12.040 | Jesus says in Matthew 7, 15, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,

00:02:22.960 | but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

00:02:27.020 | You will recognize them by their fruits.

00:02:31.420 | Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?"

00:02:36.160 | So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

00:02:42.680 | A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

00:02:48.300 | Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

00:02:53.880 | Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.

00:02:59.560 | Now Paul put a huge premium on this principle of holiness and righteousness in his own life,

00:03:09.760 | giving credibility to his gospel.

00:03:12.600 | I saw this recently just because I'm working my way through 1 Thessalonians and look at

00:03:17.560 | the book, and it just leaped.

00:03:19.880 | I mean, he made such a huge deal out of it for two chapters.

00:03:23.760 | But here's what he says in 1 Thessalonians 1, 5, "Our gospel came to you not only in

00:03:29.600 | word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction, just as you know what

00:03:38.080 | kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake."

00:03:44.280 | Amazing.

00:03:45.280 | And then he unpacks that for two chapters, what kind of men we prove to be.

00:03:50.640 | To judge us by the fruits of our lives.

00:03:54.800 | Now of course it's not always easy to see the behavioral fruit of a teacher, especially

00:04:02.920 | internet teachers, right?

00:04:05.200 | Which is why you need to look carefully and take time and belong to a church, a real live

00:04:13.600 | human being, flesh and blood, in-person church with a real live preacher whose life you know.

00:04:23.120 | So whether it's hard or not, Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits."

00:04:28.840 | Second, there's the test of sound central doctrines.

00:04:34.720 | For example, the doctrine of incarnation in 1 John 4, 1-3, where John says, "Beloved,

00:04:41.120 | do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

00:04:46.280 | For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

00:04:49.320 | By this you will know the Spirit of God."

00:04:52.080 | Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

00:04:59.360 | And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

00:05:03.560 | In other words, if someone denies that Jesus Christ is the God-man, God come in the flesh,

00:05:11.720 | he's a false teacher or a false prophet.

00:05:14.960 | John doesn't mean to say that if you get the incarnation right, there are no other mistakes

00:05:19.880 | you can make that are serious.

00:05:21.480 | That's not the point.

00:05:22.600 | He was simply dealing with that particular issue in that church, and on that issue, confessing

00:05:29.320 | that Christ had come in the flesh meant that you were speaking the truth of God.

00:05:34.280 | You got that one right, and that was the issue in that church.

00:05:38.120 | Paul emphasized the same doctrinal importance, the doctrinal test.

00:05:43.000 | In 1 Timothy 6-3, he says, "If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with

00:05:50.560 | the sound words of our Lord Jesus and the teaching that accords with godliness, he's

00:05:56.440 | puffed up with conceit and understands nothing."

00:06:01.120 | In other words, we need to measure the doctrines that are being taught by the sound words of

00:06:10.140 | our Lord Jesus Christ and by their implications for godliness.

00:06:14.680 | That's test number two, doctrine, sound doctrine.

00:06:18.720 | Third, there is the test of submission to Scripture.

00:06:23.320 | Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14-37, "If anyone thinks he's a prophet or spiritual, he should

00:06:30.520 | acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord."

00:06:39.280 | If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

00:06:44.360 | That's amazing.

00:06:46.200 | The authority of the apostles must be submitted to, or you're a false teacher.

00:06:51.520 | You're not recognized.

00:06:52.880 | John said it this way, 1 John 4-6, "We are from God.

00:06:57.840 | Whoever knows God listens to us.

00:07:01.520 | Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

00:07:06.240 | By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

00:07:10.160 | In other words, the apostles elevated their teaching to the level of a test of truth.

00:07:19.540 | If a person does not submit his thinking and his teaching to the authority of the apostles,

00:07:26.560 | to the authorized teachers of Christ who wrote the New Testament, then they're not going

00:07:33.240 | to be reliable teachers.

00:07:34.960 | It doesn't mean they won't say true things.

00:07:37.920 | Everybody says true things from time to time, even the devil, but that doesn't make them

00:07:42.480 | reliable teachers.

00:07:44.360 | Finally, there is the test of the gospel itself.

00:07:49.040 | Paul is just red hot about this one.

00:07:52.000 | Galatians 1, 8 and 9, "Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel

00:08:01.080 | contrary to the one preached to you, let him be accursed, damned.

00:08:07.800 | As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary

00:08:15.320 | to the one that you received, let him be accursed."

00:08:20.280 | And the gospel he had in mind when he said that was the gospel laid out in the book of

00:08:24.960 | Galatians, and it's the gospel of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.

00:08:31.640 | And he sums it up like this in chapter 5, verse 2, "Look, I, Paul, say to you that

00:08:38.240 | if you accept circumcision," that is, as a step toward getting right with God in justification,

00:08:47.080 | if you accept circumcision, "Christ will be of no advantage to you.

00:08:53.840 | I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he's obligated to keep the whole law."

00:09:03.800 | In other words, if you insist on law-keeping as a way of justification before God, you

00:09:09.880 | got to keep it all, and you got to keep it perfectly.

00:09:12.640 | And then he ends with this terrible warning, "You are severed from Christ, you who would

00:09:17.760 | be justified by the law.

00:09:21.360 | You have fallen away from grace."

00:09:25.860 | So there are at least four biblical tests for false teaching.

00:09:30.080 | One, the test of the fruit of behavior.

00:09:32.800 | Two, the test of sound doctrine.

00:09:35.120 | Three, the test of submission to Scripture.

00:09:37.840 | Four, the test of teaching the pure gospel of justification by faith.

00:09:42.880 | And I would end by simply reminding us that the best way to protect ourselves from false

00:09:50.300 | teachers is to be part of a healthy Bible-preaching church and to be prayerfully saturated with

00:10:01.860 | the Bible every day.

00:10:03.620 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:05.060 | That's clear and sobering and helpful.

00:10:07.540 | Kroeker, thanks for the great question.

00:10:09.100 | If you have a question of your own, you can ask it, or you can search our archive or subscribe

00:10:12.900 | to the podcast.

00:10:13.900 | You can do all that at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:10:15.700 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke.

00:10:20.420 | We will see you back here on Wednesday.

00:10:22.740 | Thanks for listening to the podcast.

00:10:23.740 | We'll see you then.

00:10:24.340 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

00:10:32.420 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Do We Discern False Teachers?

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