Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Beware the false teachers, Jesus warned his disciples. They look like sheep on the outside, but inside are ravenous wolves. And the Apostle Paul issues the same charge to the Roman Christians. We see this echoed throughout the New Testament, a warning against false teaching when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We're in Romans chapter 16, verses 17 through 23, the section that we are looking at this week. If you wanna open up your Bible and join with me there. We talked a little bit yesterday about the false teachers that Paul is warning these Roman Christians of.
We're gonna talk some more about that today and look at some of these warnings throughout the New Testament a little more extensively. This isn't gonna be an exhaustive study, but we'll go from Matthew all the way to the book of Revelation.
So you might wanna have a pen, maybe you'll wanna underline some of these passages and the warnings that are issued for believers to watch out for those who teach falsely. To the Romans in particular, Paul says, Romans 16, verse 17, I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
Avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Now there's some names that follow that in verses 21 through 23, and we'll talk a little more about those names and their significance tomorrow.
But the first name that comes up is Timothy. And this charge that Paul gives to the Roman Christians beginning in verse 17 is very similar to something that Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter one.
And we'll get to that here in just a moment. But first, let's go all the way back to the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter seven and we'll look at the Sermon on the Mount. Maybe you'll wanna pause the broadcast, turn to it and then pick up from there so you don't miss anything.
Matthew chapter seven, beginning in verse 15. Here's what Jesus said to his disciples who were listening there in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
So they might even look like us. They might look like they're part of the flock of God, but inside there is a desire, a false teaching that will attempt to devour the people of God if we are not careful.
So look at how Jesus says we will be able to know them. If they look like sheep on the outside, how will we know that they are actually wolves on the inside? And he says in verse 16, you will recognize them by their fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. So this goes back to what we were talking about yesterday when we talked about how there were those that were gonna come from within the body of Christ that would cause divisions and create obstacles, just as Paul was talking about with the Roman Christians.
And so they might have sound teaching. They might even have a base doctrine that's very solid, but they cause divisions in the body of Christ that they are a part of. So we identify by their fruit that they are not unifying, and they are not really part of this body, but are causing division.
And Jesus warns that everyone who does such things will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Turn a little bit more to the right to Matthew 16, and here Jesus warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees.
In verse five, when the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. And Jesus said to them, watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, the disciples were hungry for bread, but Jesus was using this as an example.
They should be hungry in their hearts for the truth, just as they're hungry in their stomachs for food to eat. And so in using this illustration, Jesus said to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, and here he's using leaven as a negative.
If you put a little bit of leaven into bread and you desire to make unleavened bread, well, even that little bit of leaven will ruin the bread. And so even if they draw a little bit of teaching from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and that little bit is, some of it sounds kind of godly, sounds pretty good, but Jesus says, no, even a little bit of leaven will ruin the whole lump of bread.
The apostle Paul repeated this again in Galatians chapter five, nine, even a little bit of leaven will ruin the whole lump. Now, there is a proverb, a saying that I hear people say sometimes, eat the meat and throw away the bone.
Have you ever heard anybody say that? And they'll use it in saying that even you can, even a false teacher can have something valuable to say. So just grab the meat and you can throw the bones away. No, that's not the illustration that Jesus uses.
If they are a false teacher, it is all corrupt. So don't listen to them. Even a person like Rob Bell or Joyce Meyer or Joel Esteen or T .D. Jakes, any of these can say something that sounds somewhat godly every once in a while.
Well, that sounds accurate. I mean, I can even go to the scriptures and find what it is that they're saying. They'll quote a Bible verse or something like that. But because the base of their doctrine is totally false and wrong and is a false gospel, then they should not be listened to.
They are like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and even a little bit of leaven will ruin the whole lump. Now, when Jesus says this to his disciples, as it is recorded in Mark 8, verse 15, he says the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.
So you can have even politicians, the Herodians, who can speak things in such a way that will corrupt or that will ruin the hearers. It's corrupt. And I think of Donald Trump and the many believers that he has wooed into his camp over the course of this presidential election.
Watch out, because even he knows how to manipulate the hearts of his hearers. We're gonna go from here to Matthew 23, and this is probably the most famous chapter of the Gospels where Jesus calls out false teachers.
This is referred to as the seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees. All of it is good, the whole chapter, but in particular, I wanna look at verse 15, where Jesus says, "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
"'For you travel across sea and land "'to make a single proselyte, "'and when he becomes a proselyte, "'you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.'". This is where Jesus says of them that they are sons of hell who produce more sons of hell.
And Jesus is issuing this warning about false teachers in view of the crowds that are there. He is doing this in love, warning the people not to be led astray by the false teachers, but also saying to the false teachers that unless they repent, they will be sent to hell.
Now, the next passage I wanna look at is in John 10, and this is the section where Jesus talks about him being the gate to the sheepfold. And instead of giving an explanation of this, we actually did a what video here, and I'm gonna go ahead and play the video on John 10, verses one through 10.
In John 10, 10, Jesus said, "'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. "'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.'". Often when this verse gets quoted, the thief is described as the devil, but that's not exactly the context.
To the Jews and Pharisees, Jesus said, "'Truly I say to you, "'he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, "'but climbs in by another way, "'that man is a thief and a robber. "'But he who enters by the door "'is the shepherd of the sheep.
"'To him the gatekeeper opens, "'the sheep hear his voice, "'and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. "'When he has brought out all his own, "'he goes before them and the sheep follow him, "'for they know his voice.
"'A stranger they will not follow, "'but they will flee from him, "'for they don't know the voice of strangers.'". The Jews didn't understand Jesus' figure of speech, so he said it again. "'Truly I say to you, "'I am the door of the sheep.
"'All who came before me were thieves and robbers, "'but the sheep did not listen to them. "'I am the door. "'If anyone enters by me, "'he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. "'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
"'I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.'". In context, we see that thieves and robbers are false teachers who con with their lies and destroy by twisting the life-saving gospel. Jesus was referencing Ezekiel's warning about the shepherds of Israel who use their position to feed themselves rather than God's people.
Today, there are false ministers who twist God's word for selfish gain. The true followers of Jesus won't listen to such strangers. They will follow the good shepherd who gives abundant life, meaningful and eternal when we understand the text.
We go next to the book of Acts, chapter 20. There are several examples that we could draw from the book of Acts. There's Simon the magician, there's the seven sons of Sceva in Acts chapter 19, but in particular, I wanna look at the final address that Paul made with the elders of the Ephesian church.
He gathered the elders to him, he said to them that he will not see them again while he is alive on this earth. He told them that he is innocent of the blood of those who are in Ephesus. He taught there for three years and he taught the whole gospel.
There was nothing that he withheld from teaching those in the Ephesian church. And so he says to the elders there, Acts 20, verse 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.
I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore be alert.'". And we actually see some of those things happen to the church in Ephesus. One of the reasons that the apostle Paul sent Timothy there was so that he would disparage anybody from teaching a gospel contrary to the one that was taught to them.
And we will talk about that some more as we get to 1 Timothy. And we also see in the book of Revelation that they had strayed away from the sound teaching that had been taught to them by the apostle and also his missionary brethren.
From here, let's go to 2 Corinthians. We've read from Romans. I'm gonna skip past 1 Corinthians and look at something in particular that Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. The apostle Paul was addressing these false apostles that had tried to woo the Corinthian people.
And some of them they had convinced, but other Corinthians remained unconvinced. And so Paul is speaking here to those who had been convinced by these super apostles whom he refers to satirically as super apostles.
Paul says of them in verse 13, and for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, their end will correspond to their deeds. My friends, there are not living apostles today. Men who will rise up and call themselves apostles, or even who will teach that there will come new apostles are false teachers.
The apostles as we have them are those that are mentioned in the scriptures upon whom the church was built. That's in Ephesians chapter two. The church has been established. There's no reason for it to continue to be built.
Therefore there will not be continued appointment of apostleship. So anybody who claims to be an apostle on par with the apostles who wrote the New Testament, they are false teachers and liars, and they are just like the super apostles that Paul warned the Corinthians about.
They are false teachers, have nothing to do with them. Turn over to Galatians, the next book, Galatians chapter one, looking at verses eight and nine. The apostle Paul said, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. This is a verse that applies so very well to Mormonism. Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet who claimed that the angel Moroni gave him a revealed Testament that was in addition to the scriptures as we have them.
I think also of the Pope, the papacy that claims to be a continued apostleship that is continued in the line from Peter until Pope Francis today. He preaches a different gospel, and unless he repents of this gospel, he will be accursed.
These two passages here in Galatians chapter one speak so clearly to many false teachings today that will attempt to present themselves as truth. Go next to the next book in Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, verse six, Paul says, let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.
And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.
For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Paul says in verse 15, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And how do we know what the will of the Lord is? His revealed will as given to us in the scriptures. So we are not to partner with false teachers, rather we are to expose them.
And my heart is troubled whenever I see such a sound teacher share a stage or an event with somebody who is a false teacher because they don't understand the words that were spoken here in Ephesians chapter five, but also by Christ in Matthew chapter 16, how a little bit of leaven will ruin the whole lump.
We go from Ephesians here to the book of Philippians, where Paul also gives warning to the Philippians about false teachers. He says in Philippians chapter three, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh, for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
So Paul is speaking about those who would say, you have to do this first in order to truly be saved, they're dogs, they're evildoers. And they talk about works of the flesh, which is not how a person is saved.
It is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul goes further here in chapter three to talk about those who have become enemies of the cross of Christ. And Paul speaks of them with tears.
He takes no joy and delight in calling out false teachers, but with tears, he speaks of those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Verse 19 here in chapter three, their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Next, we look at the book of Colossians. And in Colossians chapter one, Paul means first to set Christ as preeminent before these Colossian Christians that they would know Christ and his glory and his awesomeness first and foremost before he ever gets to addressing any kind of false teaching.
Because the best defense that we have is a good offense. And the more you know Christ, the more you are familiar with his word, the more you get really real with the real, the more you will be able to discern what is false.
So you think of a person who studies counterfeit money, they don't study the counterfeit to know what counterfeit looks like, although they do that, they have catalogs of what counterfeit bills will look like, I've seen them.
I knew a guy that worked for the FBI and he showed me this book and it was like a photo album, but all throughout the book were different bills that people had attempt to pass off as real money was fake.
And I mean, some of the stuff was as silly as photocopied money, but there were others that look really genuine and I would not have been able to know the difference, but he knew the difference because he got familiar first with what a real bill looked like.
He was really familiar with the genuine stuff so that when the false stuff came along, he was able to pick it out and say, there's something wrong with that. How will we be able to identify false teaching and even be able to educate others as to what false teaching looks like when we are really familiar with the real?
And so Paul sets that first before the Colossians, Christ as preeminent and then when he gets to chapter two, then he starts warning about false teaching. He says in chapter two that he has said all of these things to the Colossians verse four in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
There are things that are going to sound good to us, but we're able to pick them out as not being genuine and real and holding fast to Christ Jesus because we are familiar with the real, which is Christ.
In verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. We skip down to verse 16.
Paul says, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God.
So how will we know that a person is genuine in their teaching because they are holding fast to Christ and let no one disqualify you because you're not meeting this list of demands or qualifications, but rather be confident according to what is said to us in the word of God that no one may disqualify us.
We go to 2 Thessalonians and the apostle Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter two, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together with him, we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one deceive you in any way. And then Paul goes on to explain to the Thessalonians what they can expect to happen before the day of the Lord arrives. So what had happened in Thessalonica was that they had received a letter from somebody either claiming to be an apostle or claiming to be the apostle Paul themselves and had led them to believe the day of the Lord had already occurred.
And so they were worried that they had missed the second coming of Christ. And so Paul meant to assure them not to be shaken in mind because the day of the Lord has not yet arrived and here are the signs to look for.
So again, the more familiar we are with the true word of God, the better we will be able to distinguish between the truth and false teaching. 1 Timothy 1, here is where Paul has charged Timothy to go to Ephesus and teach the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Beginning in verse three, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.
Hold fast to the true words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul throughout this letter to Timothy and his second letter to Timothy issues charges about false teaching. In chapter four, verse seven, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness.
And Paul says in verse 16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. In chapter six, verse three, Paul says 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, sounds very familiar to something that Paul said to the Galatians.
If this is what he does, apart from the sound words of the Lord Christ, then 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, and constant friction among the people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
In second Timothy, chapter two, verse 14, Paul says the following, remind them of these things and charge them before God, not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, but avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.
Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some, but God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal.
The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. I love that illustration that Paul gives there of false teachers spreading like gangrene. It causes parts of the body to rot and fall off.
And so that's what false teaching does. It causes members of the body of Christ to become rotten and fall away from the body of Christ. So we must be careful and diligent to call out false teachers. Paul said to Titus in Titus chapter one, verse nine, that one of the responsibilities of a pastor is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.
I write a lot of blogs in addition to the Bible study that we do here and the what videos that are made, and sometimes those blogs are specifically calling out false teachers. Sometimes what videos are calling out false teachers?
And I'll receive emails from people that will, they'll say, who appointed you, a judge, to be able to say whether this person's teaching is right or wrong. And the verse of reference that I always come back to is Titus one, nine, and I'll email them back and I'll say, one of the responsibilities that is given to me as a pastor is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, giving instruction in sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.
And I have never had anyone argue with me on that point. It's almost as if once presented with the word of God, they know that they have no argument to that. Now, a pastor should do this with gentleness and respect as the apostle Peter says in first Peter three, 15, but nonetheless, our responsibility to warn the flock against those who are false teachers.
Paul goes on to speak about false teachers to Titus in verse 16, where he says, they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. And in chapter three, he says, avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless.
And I think of a recent fad among the young restless and reform 20 somethings, one of the fad doctrines that they have gotten into is theonomy, which the word simply means God's law. And there are a lot of arguments and really silly conversations that I've witnessed online regarding theonomy.
And Paul says very plainly here, avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless. Verse 10, as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned.
In the book of Hebrews, I draw attention just to one passage in chapter 13, verse nine, where the writer of Hebrew says, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.
In the book of James, James issues this, in James chapter three, verse one, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. This goes with something that the apostle John mentions in first John four, one, where he says to test the spirits, for not every spirit is from God and there are many false teachers that have gone out into the world.
Let's look at first Peter chapter five, where the apostle says, be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. In second Peter chapter two, we have a whole chapter that is dedicated to the warning regarding false teachers.
I won't read the whole thing, but just the first verse, false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And we have also in chapter three, where the apostle Peter says, for they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.
And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished, but by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
In first John, I had already mentioned verse four or chapter four, verse one, which was the only one that I had highlighted to read here. Let's go to second John in verse seven, where the apostle says, for many deceivers have gone out into the world.
Those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. And in verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
And John is specifically talking about the church. So one who teaches falsely should not be welcomed into the church, lest anybody get the impression that it's okay to call this person a brother when they teach a destructive heresy.
And it's much worse to even give him a platform at the pulpit and allow such a person to teach as though you would be endorsing that teaching. In third John, verse nine, I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.
So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
John specifically calling out a person by name. Of course, we saw Paul do this also with Timothy and warning Timothy of those specific false teachers that he needed to look out for. In the book of Jude, Jude says in verse 10, these people blaspheme all that they do not understand and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively because it comes from a wicked and sinful heart, which is their instinct.
Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jude's entire letter is devoted toward warning against false teachers. And we have in the book of Revelation, Jesus saying these things to the seven churches in Asia as well. And in fact, to the church in Ephesus, he issues a warning.
Chapter two, verse two, I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.
I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you have not grown weary, but I have this against you, you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works that you did at first.
If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
So the Ephesians were careful to test those false teachers, but they no longer had the love of Christ for one another. Instead, they had probably become rigid in their doctrine and the teaching and they loved that, but not one another.
So it was the orthodoxy and not the orthopraxy. And so Jesus found a reason to have to rebuke them so that they would return to the love that they had at first, the love that they had for one another.
That's specifically the context of the love that he is talking about there. And Jesus warns against other false teachings to some of the other churches as well, that they would remain steadfast in the faith and fixed on the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The message of the gospel that Jesus from his throne in heaven came in the flesh. He took on the form of a servant and he became obedient even to the point of death on a cross. He did not remain in the grave, but he came back to life, showing that he had conquered sin and death itself.
All who are in Christ have received his righteousness and also his everlasting life. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess in heaven and on earth and under the earth that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.
God has granted him the name that is above every name. It is that name that we should place our faith in. And it is by that name that we should test all things to see whether or not they are truly from God.
Our great God, we pray to you, and we ask that you would give us discerning hearts and wise minds to be able to discern those things which are truly from you in your son, Jesus Christ, and which things are from the devil and are worldly and attempt to lead us astray.
Let us be fixed on the sound words of the Lord Christ so we would not be led astray by any false teaching and heed the warnings of the apostles like the warning that Paul gave to the church in Rome, that we would know the sound words of Christ and by those words be able to pick out the false teaching, call it out, and have nothing to do with it, and also warn our brothers and sisters to have nothing to do with it.
Thank you for your love and your patience and your guidance upon us according to your spirit. It's in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand the Text.