Galatians 5:7-12

Strong Rhetoric Against False Teaching

A little leavened, leavened the whole lump, and it says that in scripture here in Galatians. There are dangers when individuals come and stand up and preach or teach or speak. Falsehood, it must be opposed.

Scripture does not give room for it. Give us the strength, the courage, the wisdom, we pray, and as Jeff brings us this passage, in Jesus' name, amen.

Before you start.

Yes.

It's a very important announcement that needs to be made.

Announcement time.

Announcement time. Would whoever's birthday is today, raise your right hand. Oh, two of you.

That's my left hand.

That's my left hand.

So it's not your birthday.

No. Okay.

He's a pretender.

Yeah.

Now we understand that this is actually a milestone. You're 50 today.

My brain still thinks I'm 55, but my body has made me quite aware that I am turning 80 today.

Oh.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Mr. Bishop.

Where's your bunny ears?

No, I don't have any bunny ears. I do, however, have some quotes, and I'd like you to let me know who you think said this, and whether he might have been a godly man or not. You are ignorant, stupid, godless blasphemers.

Quote number two. You moderate enforcer and eulogizer of moderation. You are one of those bloody and deceitful people who affect modesty in words and appearance, but who meanwhile breathe out threats and blood.

Strong words. In lying fashion, you ignore what even children know. Any guesses yet?

Is that all the same person?

All the same person. The reward of such flattery is what your crass stupidity deserves. What do you think? Sounds like Martin Luther.

Yes!

Who knows?

Martin Luther, the king of the theological insult. Way to go, Tim. I'm impressed. And there are, if you Google Martin Luther insults, there are just pages and pages. In all of his works, he often is very harsh with people.

Can you think of an Old Testament prophet on Mount Carmel who used equally strong rhetoric? Elijah, yes, when contending with the prophets of Baal, was very strong and even mocked them in their efforts to conjure up fire.

So there is a time and a place for strong rhetoric. It could be, and I think Martin Luther even acknowledged it, he went over the top sometimes. There were times when he probably crossed the line, but there is a use for strong rhetoric.

Today we're going to read a passage where Paul is addressing the false prophets who are leading the Galatians into a theological heresy, and his insult at verse 12 is no less striking than what Luther doles out.

Paul was capable of this. How about Jesus? Was Jesus always meek and mild? Anybody here ever read Matthew chapter 23?

Yes.

He'll call Herod a fox. He says, go tell that fox, which is kind of insulting. Jesus at times would use strong rhetoric. It's not always the time to use strong rhetoric. In children's ministry, when a child is acting up, Tim, do you ever result into Luther quotes?

No, you have to get stern sometimes, though. You have to be stern, but you need to be careful not to be mean like Luther.

What's that?

Brutivipers.

Brutivipers. That's one of my favorite ones from Jesus. So the big point today is that when you're dealing with a false prophet, you have to recognize that this is not the time to coddle or appease, but these must be met with direct resistance, sometimes even with the strongest terms.

Now, who of the sexes tend to be the more nurturing, men or women?

Women.

Who is made to be the ones to go to war, to be more aggressive?

Men.

Men.

So do you think that has anything to do with Titus 1 -9, where elders must refute those who contradict? In other words, an elder must be willing to fight a heretic. Do you think that has something to do with the fact that elders should be men only?

Yes.

Absolutely.

Yes.

What happens when a denomination begins to employ female elders? Compromise. It goes. Compromise. Before long, right? And it usually begins with the compromise of female leadership itself. That's usually the entry point where a denomination will say, well, we will have female elders, just not pastors.

Well, we will have female pastors, just not the senior pastor or the preaching pastor. Well, we will allow females to be the preachers. And before long, what ends up happening is, in that natural desire to include and to nurture, they include things that God would say, you must fight this.

So the natural instinct for men is to fight a threat to the family. The natural instinct of a woman is to nurture the family. So God has made it a masculine role to do the fighting against heretics. So recognize that, scripturally, elders are to be men.

I mean, it's clearly stated. I forbid a woman to teach or exercise authority over men. Couldn't be any more clear, right? As 1 Timothy 2, verses 11 to 15, that whole passage, indicates. But the idea here is, there will be wolves that come in among you.

And you have to be willing to fight. And it's really the responsibility of the elders in the church to identify false teaching. Could it be that there would even be some false teaching among elders?

Sure.

Even that happens as well. And then the other elders would have to fight the elder. Because there are certain things worth fighting for. Now, there's another error. And this is kind of the ditch in the other lane.

And that is to fight and quarrel over things that should not be fought over. Disputable matters. Matters of opinion. Things that are not gospel-related. There's a warning against that. Let me just quickly read this.

You could turn there if you like. But it's at the end of Titus, chapter 3, verses 9 to 11. Might as well all get there. This is about being quarrelsome. A quarrelsome person is somebody who's looking for a fight.

They're willing to fight and battle for their every opinion. And make everything a hill to die on. Titus 3, verses 9 to 11. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law.

For they are unprofitable and worthless. 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.

Can we think of any examples of a foolish controversy, a genealogy, or a dissension, or a quarrel about the law?

In the recent history of the last 25 years, what was the most ridiculously contentious congregational meeting about?

The screen.

Well, the piano was, yeah, but the screen. Should we paint, reflective paint, or have a pull-down screen? And it was a 50 -50 battle.

Oh my, how important.

Yeah.

It's the hill to die on. We must have the pull-down screen. Now, the tendency in our culture is to err in which direction?

What's that?

To compromise.

To compromise, yes. I think that if you were to go to most churches, they would really have a problem with only one thing.

The bigot.

The person who thinks that their way is the only way. The person who is confrontational and aggressive, that's the person that they really don't want anything to do with. But what you need to be is welcoming of all.

So they would point to Titus 3 and call any, hey, if you're opposed to gay marriage, don't be so quarrelsome. Why do you have to have your what? If you're opposed to the transitioning, quote unquote, transitioning of children, well, who are you to say?

God said so.

There you go. And that's a hill to die on. Yeah.

You know, I was just thinking about this this week, my wife and I were talking about it. And I was reading where Israel, the judges, the kings that made Israel sin and the sin of Jeroboam. But then it talked about the sin in Judah and the high place.

So you got to have the high places.

Yes.

The issue with the high places, there are two very different high places. OK. The Northern Kingdom was like we can compare it to like the state church. OK. State. So when I was thinking about the state, the state either restricts you from doing what the mission that you believe is to be done because you've got to stay within the confines or the state will punish.

But down in Israel, the high place in Judah, it was a different kind of high place. Yes. It was a high place that was set up by Solomon for his wives to go worship their fathers.

Yeah, he did. Yes.

So I just throw that point out because I'm not fully formed my thought on that.

Right.

It's important to understand that because these are the same dynamics we deal with with teaching.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a great point, Dominic. And one of the things about wisdom is knowing which battles should you fight, what really does matter. And I think today we will get some light on that because Paul clearly thinks that this is one of those hills to die on.

This is an issue. And the issue, of course, is because it touches the gospel. If someone comes along saying, well, you must be circumcised. I could see people in the Jewish community saying, you know what, it'll help us reach more Jews.

Let's just go along with this. It doesn't seem like that big a deal. Maybe there's health benefits. Come up with some reason to say, well, you know what, let's include this. Let's let them have this one.

It's not a hill worth dying on. But that's not Paul's approach to this particular subject. So, John, would you read it through for us once? It's just verses 7 to 12.

This is the shortest passage.

Galatians 5, 7 to 12.

This is the shortest passage you've taught us.

Yeah, maybe so.

Maybe so. Okay.

There's a lot here.

There's a lot.

There's a lot.

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.

Wow. Okay.

The Galatians Were Running Well Before False Teaching

So, let's pick up at verse 7. He begins by saying, You were running well. Christians need to remember our first love. When we were running well. Now, the Galatian beginning, the beginning of the Galatian church, was founded on the gospel.

And at the beginning, there are two views as to how this Galatian church was founded. One is the northern view, and the other is the southern view. On Paul's first missionary journey, he only reached the southern parts of what some called Galatia, the southern part of Galatia.

And that would include Antioch, Poseidon, Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, Iconium, those four cities. Some scholars think that this is the Galatian church he's addressing in the southern part of Turkey. The northern view holds that during his second missionary journey, Paul actually traveled far north into Galatia and reached churches there.

And that's where the gospel would be preached. But if we're taking the southern view, which I think has become the majority view, that's also my view, that we're talking about these churches, remember how it started.

It was Paul himself who came there and was willing to preach the gospel. And what happened to Paul at Lystra? Got stoned. Stoned and left for dead. And then got back up and went back in the city. He went on to Derbe, started the church there, returned back to each of the cities where he had been, and appointed elders.

In those early days, the days of small beginnings, they were willing to suffer for the gospel. People were being stoned and left for dead. And surely the persecution continued after he left, because it says in Acts 14, he warned them that through much suffering they will have to enter the kingdom of God.

They started in suffering for the sake of the name, and Paul never required the things that are now fascinating them. He did not tell the Galatians they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. He told them they needed to believe in Christ.

And Christ was all they had and all they knew, and Christ was enough. That's all they wanted. That's all they had. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reminds them of this when he says in verse 7, you were running well.

Now, someone in the church began to preach a destructive,.

Damnable heresy.

John, could you read the second part of verse 7?

Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

Okay.

Do you think Paul knows the answer to that question?

Is it rhetorical, or is he asking?

No, I think he's got a good idea of what's going on.

I think he knows. He probably knows some names. He's probably heard. He's wanting them to think about it. He might or might not know. That's not material. But what he's doing in this verse is he's saying, who are we talking about here?

Who's saying something different than what I originally taught you? Yeah. And it is this group of Judaizers. It's probably the same group that came up claiming to have come from James in Jerusalem. Because this is 48 AD.

It's just before the Jerusalem Council. So it's probably the same troublemakers.

That are going everywhere,.

Teaching the churches the Judaized gospel. Which, according to Paul, is no gospel at all. It doesn't save. You can't be saved by this gospel. So in verse 7, who hinders you from obeying the truth? Here, there are flesh and blood human enemies that need to be identified.

And the who is meant to conjure up in their mind, or I shouldn't say conjure, but to paint a picture in their mind of a particular person, a face. Who is saying this? Because that person might be the most lovable person in the church.

What's the definition of rhetorical?

A rhetorical question is one that you. That's just food for thought. It's not...

It's not an obvious question and answer.

Yeah. It's not expecting an answer.

There is no option. There's one answer. Everybody knows it's the one answer.

Yeah. Well said.

What'd he say?

What all I'm saying though is he he wants to identify a person, but here's the problem. Very often, the wolf is wearing sheep's clothing. This might be the person who greets everybody after church. The most friendly.

The guy who's most liked in the church. He might have the best personality and be really good on so many things. He might talk about the Trinity. He might talk about substitutionary atonement. The resurrection.

But Paul wants you to see his face.

Who.

Hindered you from obeying the truth? Because this person is saying you have to do something. You have to do these particular works in order to earn salvation. And it's only one thing. It seems so harmless.

Circumcision. But you're going to see. Paul is going to hit this with the fury of a WWE wrestler. He's going to come at this hard and aggressive with rhetoric. With trash talk almost. Like Luther. He is going to treat this as an enemy.

Not something to be coddled. Not something to be nurtured. Not agree to disagree. Notice how aggressive Paul is going to be. But here he wants you to identify a person. Matthew 7.

I believe it's verse 7 where it talks about.

The wolves in sheep's clothing.

No, that's asking you.

Verse 15. Tim, would you read that for us? Matthew 7. The outward versus the inward. The external appearance.

Versus what's really happening.

When the wolf came in.

Yeah.

What was the nature of that wolf's teaching.

That you're referring to?

I don't know who you're talking about.

The nature of the wolf's teaching.

What was he saying? It was a sheep.

It had to do with a new pastor.

Undermining the pastor behind his back.

Talking to everybody about him.

Successfully got him out.

That happened.

I thought he was going to die in front of me.

When?

Completely overwhelmed by grief. They lost a gem. They really did. It was just because the new pastor came in.

He didn't preach.

Like the previous pastor. Extremely involved. They wanted to be extremely involved. The church with the women. In fact, one of the people in the final meeting said, I just want my little church back. That church was growing.

There was a wonderful ministry.

Going on there.

And now it's a synagogue.

So it was lost to the kingdom. Turned into a synagogue of Satan.

It's very sad. Thank you for sharing that story.

We need to be aware that these threats will come against the church. In Acts chapter 20, we can turn there. Can I read 16? Yes, please. We might want to know too. You will recognize them by their fruits.

Not by appearance only. If they look like sheep, you're going to think it's a sheep. But if you look for the fruit, you're going to see. You should see in them love, joy, peace, patience,.

Kindness.

I know a guy who said he was an elder and a deacon at a church and he never read the Bible because he was too busy working. I said, that's who they select.

We're the wise elders.

But eventually, it will come out though. The fruit will manifest in time.

You'll know it.

You'll see the result of their life and ministry in many ways. In Acts 20, verses 28 to 30, John, could I call on you to read that for us? This is when Paul calls the Ephesian elders to the shore because he's going to say goodbye.

He knows he's never going to see their face again. He gives them final instructions.

We'll just read 28 to 30.

Wow. What a warning. Remember, the church is blood-bought. The precious blood of the Lamb, the most valuable thing in all of creation, actually His life in the blood poured out for the church. The enemy is targeting that church.

The enemy will sow seeds into the church. What's so striking about these verses is it will come in among you, verse 30, will arise among your own selves. From among your own selves. That means it could have been a couple of those guys sitting on the beach listening to that exhortation.

Isn't that amazing? If anybody preaches a different gospel, Paul even says, if I ever preach to you a different gospel, let it be a curse. The gospel is the standard and Paul will not move an inch from that.

He warns them there will be people attacking this gospel of grace. Grace, grace, grace. This is the point of the letter. It's the gospel of grace. It's not by works. We must guard this so jealously. Back to Galatians 5 .8.

John, if you would.

Read that for us.

Who calls you?

What does he mean by this persuasion? Do you think that the Judaizing gospel teacher is persuasive or do you think he's an idiot? Think he's intelligent?

How about well-spoken?

Do you think he can really turn a phrase?

That's.

The scary thing here. That support about the sheep's clothing, he'll look moral and kind and like one of you and really sound right until he preaches something against the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the ideology, the persuasion.

When it says this persuasion is not from him who calls you, this ideology, this way of thinking, this persuasion, these are opposed to God's message. So if it didn't come from God who called you to the faith, where did this thing come from?

The father of lies, the pit of hell. Paul is saying this is satanic and that's why Paul takes it head on. He's fighting a spiritual war. He's going to war. He's not playing games. He's not having a little classroom debate.

He's not a seminary student sitting out on the lawn debating Calvinism and Arminianism and trying to sort out the fine points of theology. As valuable as that is, that's not what this is. This is demonic, satanic attack against the gospel and it doesn't come from him who calls you.

It comes from Satan. 1 Timothy 4 .1 will call these teachings of demons. 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5 will regard these as strongholds of the mind. We are to take captive, that's in your notes for later, take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

Because these persuasions, these ideologies, they're demonic in nature, teachings of demons. We are fighting a spiritual war. Here in Mount Laurel. Oh yeah, Joe.

I have a tendency to see everything black and white like this.

How do you fight the good fight without yourself becoming toxic? I think it's by staying focused on who the enemy is and that's why Paul in the beginning here, and actually we'll get to that in verse 10.

That's my main point about verse 10. Let me hold that thought until then. We'll get to it in just a minute. Verse 9.

John, if you would.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

What's Paul's argument here?

It only takes one to start it.

To start that fire, it can consume.

The entire forest.

I can guarantee you that if I were to see that seed that was planted in that other church begin in this.

Church.

Let's go to verse 10 then to answer Joe's question and pick back off of that because the answer is to identify the false teacher, the one who actually is a wolf and make sure that that person is directly engaged.

But to realize that people who are being influenced are not the enemy. Notice how Paul does it. This is so important because there's a difference here Joe between people who are starting to be persuaded or they're on the fence.

They don't know. They're sheep.

They're being led by.

Someone and you can't come in aggressive against a sheep. You come aggressive against a wolf. So John,.

Did you read verse 10? The whole thing in the first half.

You can read the whole verse.

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

Okay, do you see what Paul does here? I love this. He suddenly, after talking aggressively about this persuasion it doesn't come from God, essentially saying it's satanic. It's leaven that's going to spread to the whole lump.

Then he turns and says I have confidence.

In the Lord.

That you will take no other view. That's not aggressive, is it? That's actually affirming. That's gentle. That's encouraging. And Paul is that way. It never, like Paul has this reputation of being really hard.

But I've never read anything more loving than Paul's introduction sections to each of his epistles. How he talks to the Philippians. Who talks like that? How he speaks to those in the churches. He's a very loving man.

And here he is building them up. I have confidence. He's positive. He hasn't himself become toxic. He's not raging against everybody in the church. He's directing. Now look how he transitions this right in the middle of the sentence.

I have, yeah.

There is an exhortation in the first half of that too. I have confidence in the Lord you will take. No other view implies that you are fully versed in the true.

View.

So you don't just sit back and.

Letting.

Things happen. Being immersed in this is what helps you recognize that one little deviation to the passage. That's right.

That's where the sheep start. By the time we got into this mess, it was too late. Too late. The lies had spread like yeast can.

Break. A little leaven leavens the whole lot. So halfway through verse 10 look at the distinction. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty.

Whoever he is. This calls.

For great discernment. For a pastor, for an elder to recognize a false teacher in the church you better be right, first of all. You better not be straining out gnats and swallowing a camel. This better be a gospel issue that you're addressing.

But if something is a true threat to the body of Christ, you have to identify that and address it. Better be right. Because Paul says this person will bear the penalty.

Whoever he is.

It will happen. I don't think that... No. God's.

Vengeance. Although I do think Paul will deal directly with false teachers. What did he do to Elemis the magician? He says you're blind. He directly addressed it.

Yeah. It's just the sheep.

Yes.

Those sheep were moved by a seed that was planted by a bad seed that was planted. Whether they were they embraced it. Now that seed needs to be proven as false and the new seed needs to be verbalized as it were.

It does involve marking the false teacher. So it's like a branding. You have to brand someone as a false teacher. It's a drastic thing to do but you have to do it. We didn't know.

Who this person was. That's the problem. It's going through the female circles and the men of the church had no idea.

What was going on. It was under the current. So in Romans 16 -17 Janet, would you mind reading that? I'll give you a second to find it. The point is, and this actually refers particularly to the kind of teacher that Bob's talking about.

The one who sows division. Undermining church leadership, things like that. That is a kind of false teacher. Paul is dealing more with a theological heretic in Galatians but Romans 16 -17 is one who sows division.

That person needs to be marked. Mark and avoid.

It says. So Janet, when you're ready.

Romans 16 -17. Note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. Note, another translation says mark. So you need to mark and avoid false teachers.

What about turn away? Turn away, yeah. It's a translation.

Difference there. The ESV.

Says the same thing. Has that same idea of just remove.

Let me look up,.

I know it didn't say mark or note.

But I've.

Got an ESV.

Right here. Watch out! Watch out, note, mark.

Jeff, I think too that a lot of caution has to be. Yes. I remember I go back to Jimmy Swagger and Robbie Zachary and all these people. Touch not the anointed of God and then you had T .D. Jakes and you had that whole gang, that whole to name and claim and stuff gospel.

And then you also had touch not the anointed of God and you had David Platt. This gets to be very careful because David Platt actually not only divided the church but the people in the church left and I always use that as an analogy.

Who were, well we talk about apostasy is a strong word. But who were in error? The ones who left or were told to leave because they targeted them or David Platt and his new pastor.

Who stayed? Yeah, it's a great, so Mike Kelsey and Platt, that's for those who aren't familiar with the story, they began to introduce social justice rhetoric and the book divided by faith, which is truly heretical at the root because it undermines aspects that are core.

To the gospel.

So I think that that was right to mark and avoid at that point and sadly he still has not repented of that and what ended up happening is the church, it was Lon Solomon's church, 15 ,000 people. By the time Platt's introduction of social justice, it was 6 ,000 people.

It was half the church. It was gone because that's what happens. It causes division and that's the nature of social justice. It's meant to divide. Color of skin. There's oppressor and victim and so now you've created this wedge that.

Separates people. They use doctrine.

They use doctrine to. They use doctrine to say you are the heretic, you are a heretic, you are a heretic. They did. So they ran people out.

Anybody that would oppose the leadership, they ran out and they would say, look, you're not following Titus 3, you're being divisive and so be out of here. Where did Lon Solomon land on that? Was he with or against?

He was not a social justice guy but he had given the church. I love Lon Solomon. I used to listen to him on the radio. And I think he still does some kind of.

Teaching. So throughout even recent church experience, the attacks, and this is all, St. Satan, he's the author of all lies. He's not omniscient but he's relentless. He's used different attacks. One of them that he used 15, 20 years ago started out with a good thing morphed into a disastrous thing.

It started out with what was called the Emerging Dialogue. And that was the discussion that churches have often become.

A little bubble of protection.

And we need to be giving the gospel to our neighborhoods and stuff like that. So the Emerging Dialogue started out with saying, don't just come to church and make that your sanctuary of safe place. Come here, get fed, get prepared, and then go out into the world and preach the gospel.