Should We Confront False Teachers?

Have you considered that maybe, perhaps, there might be a slight sliver of a 1 % of a chance that you could have been a little mistaken?

Alright Tim, the question for today's episode is, should we confront false teachers? It's funny that this is the kind of question that a lot of people are asking because it's one of those questions that seems to have one of the most straightforward answers in the

Bible that is given to this kind of question, meaning, I mean, there's just numerous passages in the

Bible that are devoted to this very thing and it seems like Jesus is basically doing this non -stop throughout his earthly ministry.

And John the Baptist, when he comes on the scene, I mean, he starts with, you know, looking at the Pharisees and the scribes and saying, you know, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

And so this is, I mean, this is just one of the most well -attested kind of things that you're going to find in the Bible when you think about it.

Pete Right, yeah. I think, you know, the one that I think of the most is I think about in Acts when

Paul is leaving the church in Ephesus, he tells them, you know, to keep on guard against false teachers and against wolves and then, you know, when he's writing to the

Ephesians, he commends them on their faithfulness, right? And so it's like you see this picture of he gave them a command and then they followed through with that command and ultimately it's led to that church being blessed in certain ways.

And then you see later on in Revelation, you know, Jesus, he condemns the

Ephesians or, you know, he is at least critiquing them. And I think the

Ephesian, the church in Ephesus is the one that Jesus says they've left their first love, right?

And so you kind of see, that's sort of my, that's my favorite example of, you know, looking at, like is it important to speak out against false teachers because you see

Paul give the command in Acts and then he's commending them in the letter that he wrote to them.

And then in Revelation, you see that they must have stopped doing that because the church fundamentally changed and Jesus rebuked them for it, right?

I mean, you just have so many examples of this that you could literally write a book on it. So, I mean, just going through the ministry of Jesus, I mean,

I'm just going to go to Matthew 23 where you see, you know, him going off on the Pharisees, but I mean, you know,

Matthew 23, 13, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.

For you neither enter yourself nor you allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 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 of a child of hell as yourself.

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, if anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.

And I notice this, you blind fools. Very loving of Jesus, very loving, very gentle.

For which is greater, the gold or the temple that made the gold sacred, and you say, if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that's on the altar, he is bound by his oath.

You blind men, for which is greater the gift on the altar, or the altar that makes the gift sacred.

You know? So, I mean, he just goes on and on and on and on, you know, verse 23, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have been collected away to your matters of law.

Verse 25, or no, verse 24, you blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup, you know, but inside they're full of greed and self -indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup, the outside may also be clean.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which are outwardly beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

I mean, but it just keeps on, I mean, it just keeps on going and going and going. I mean, and there's... You know, I feel like,

I feel like Jesus could put together a pretty mean diss track. Right. Right. Yeah.

Like, you remember that song Shilin did? I think it was literally called,

I mean, I'm not the biggest Shilin fan, but, you know, I think he made a song that was literally called

False Teachers. Right. And it was, you know, it was mainly calling out, I think, prosperity gospel guys, but then he's just like, he's just literally going name after,

I mean, it's pretty much just like a, like a list of names. It's like a, it's almost like listening to someone read a genealogy out loud because it's just name after name after name.

I think Jesus could do something like that even better. Yeah. I mean, it's funny. So, I mean, one of the more funny examples of this,

I mean, he's doing the same thing in Luke. Okay. So, so listen to this. He says, woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace.

He says, woe to you for you're like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing. And then in verse 46, it's, or 45, it says, one of the lawyers answered him saying, teacher, in saying these things, you insult us also.

You insult us also. And he said, woe to you lawyers also. Oh yeah. I forgot about,

I forgot about you guys. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. For you love people with burdens hard to bear and you yourself do not touch one of the burdens with one of your fingers.

And then he says, woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets. Whom your fathers killed. So you're witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers for they killed them and you build their tombs.

I mean, so he just, I mean, whatever you say about Jesus, I mean, he, he, he knew how to come up with some creative names to call people.

And I mean, he didn't hold back. I mean, he. He wasn't very PC, was he? No, I mean, he didn't.

I mean, and you know, it's, it's one of those things that are amazing, like you mentioned revelation or whatever. But then let me see if I can pull this up.

You it's, it's, it's one of those things where people just, they don't they don't know Jesus very well. Right?

No, not at all. Not at all. So, so he goes, so as he's, you know, you're mentioning he is let's see, he's rebuking the church at Ephesus or whatever.

And he says, you know, but I have this against you. You've abandoned love. You have it first. So he's rebuking this church too.

Right? So he, I mean, he rebukes false teachers, he rebukes church, he rebukes everyone. He says, remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.

If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. So, you know, totally threatening them.

Right. But then, but then he says, yet, yet this you have. Right.

So I want to commend you. He wants to commend them. And he says, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which

I also hate. Jesus isn't allowed to hate people.

So you look at that, you say, hey, yeah, man, he's like, not, I mean, not only is he like, as he rebuked people and he rebukes them pretty,

I mean, he rebukes them soundly, so there'll be sound in their faith. Yeah. He puts some creativity into it. Right.

But then like they, like he, he commends churches for, for hating these false teachers, you know?

Right. So, and hating, like hating their teaching and hating what they're doing. And so he's, he's praising them for that. So he's like, hey, yeah, you know what?

Here's all these criticisms of you. Your love has grown cold, but you have this, you know, this, here's something, you know, in your favor.

You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which they also hate. So you're able to identify false teachers, but yeah, a lot of people, they just, they, they don't know who

Jesus is. I mean, he started his ministry doing the same thing John the Baptist said, you brood of vipers, he warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

And, you know, his sermon on the mount, like if people would read the sermon on mount, they'll realize that like, he's dissing the

Pharisees the whole time, and they're literally standing right there, you know, listening to it.

I mean, they're in the crowd. He's sitting there talking about them right to their face, you know, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, he will by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So, I mean, he's like, you know, whatever Jesus was, I mean, he, he, he was not a respecter of persons.

You know, he wasn't impressed by anyone and he spoke the truth to them and, you know, he told them what they needed to hear.

And, and that's, I think that's what most people, they don't realize. They think that like the way that you get people into the kingdom is you just love them unconditionally and approve of everything that they say and do and think and feel, you know, but that isn't, that isn't what

Jesus did. I mean, he, he went straight for the jugular every single time, you know. So, so what's the purpose of that?

I mean, you know, like we can sit here and we can laugh and, you know, read the, read the Bible verses where he's, where Jesus is just,

I mean, destroying people. He's embarrassing them, you know? I mean, like the, and it's like the groups of people who in that society would have been held with the highest regard and Jesus is coming along and just, and just tearing into them time and time again.

I mean, it's very obvious that he did not appreciate, he did not appreciate the Pharisees.

He did not appreciate the scribes. He did not appreciate the Sadducees. So, so why, what's,

I mean, what's the purpose behind, you know, being, calling these people out and calling them out in, in the way that Jesus did?

Jared So, yeah, I think a lot of people, they have a one -size -fits -all approach to the Christian life.

So, they think that the way that you talk to everyone is the same in every conceivable situation. So, they don't have categories for how you speak to different kinds of people in different kinds of situations.

And you know, in what we do, but you know, because we live in a victim society right now, one of the things that we're constantly trying to do essentially is that you, you basically, you're trained to view every single person as if they're just this innocent little baby or something, this innocent little child.

And so, you're supposed to view adults like this. You're basically, you're supposed to view everyone as this helpless victim that has no moral agency and no moral accountability.

And then you're supposed to like think about everyone as if like anytime they do something wrong is because they almost can't do the right thing, right?

Because it's just too much for them and, and they're just broken, you know, messes of people and Jesus is so compassionate and whatever else.

But I mean, you really, you're, you're really trained to view like adult human beings as if they're two -year -olds, like they just didn't know or something like that.

But the problem is that there's real stubborn evil in the world and you know, we, we don't think about things in those terms anymore.

We don't even have a category for evil. Like you don't, you don't view people as evil, right? You don't think like they're doing what they're doing because they're of their father, the devil and their, you know, will is to do his works, you know, essentially like we don't view people like that.

You don't view them as fundamentally evil who hate God and hate his purposes and hate his values and, and you know, they're being held captive by the, by the devil to do his will.

And you know, they're of him, like they're, they're his offspring. And so when you think about people realistically and you think about the people, the way that the

Bible actually speaks of, speaks about them, there's not this one size fits all, coddle everyone into the kingdom kind of thing.

Like the Bible says that, you know, there are people who have been so hardened against the truth that they no longer can hear, you know?

And they've moved past feelings. And so, I mean, just imagine like the sodomites who like, literally they're trying to rape these angels and lot begs them, you know, men don't behave so wickedly or whatever.

And, you know, their response to, to him at that point is to say, you know, who made you to be a judge over us? And so then they're trying to burst down the door and take what they want at that point.

And the angels blind them and they're so hardened in their sin. I mean, you have to understand like, they're so hardened in their sin that even after being blinded, they're groping at the door trying to get those angelic messengers.

I mean, it's that bad, you know, I can say, but then like, you don't think about people that way. Like, you don't think about people being that hardened in evil and that stubborn in their evil.

Like you just, you're predisposed to think of everyone as I'm saying, like some kind of innocent two -year -old girl or something.

And so like, that's, but then like the reality as the Bible says, like we urge you brothers admonish the idol.

Like there's a place for like a sharp rebuke, you know, there's times where people need to wake up. I mean, one of my favorite passages is where Nehemiah looks at the, he looks at the children of Israel who are taking these foreign women.

And he says, he beat some, like he yelled at them. He beat some of them and he pulled out their hair, you know, like their beard hair, like he, and he charged them, like, do not take, you know, foreign daughters on account of these foreign women, you know,

Solomon was led into sin and everything else. But the Bible, let a righteous man strike, strike me, you know, like there's stubborn evil that like, sometimes like,

I mean, you can imagine like an old cartoon or whatever, where someone's doing something foolish and you know, the cartoon character comes up to them and like smacks them in the face to try to knock some sense in them.

But we're just so like, this is just such foreign thinking to us that you would like that people need to wake up sometimes and you got to, you know, even scream at them or yell at them or holler at them or call them names or whatever.

It's like, have you ever seen that movie Airplane? Have you seen Airplane? Jared I've seen the movie poster.

Pete There's one, you've seen the movie poster. It's a really funny movie. But there's one scene in the movie where the plane is like starting to crash or yeah, yeah, the plane is starting to crash and this one lady is just freaking out uncontrollably.

And so in the scene, someone walks up to her and just slaps her across the face and it's like, get a grip woman and slaps her across the face and he leaves and then the next person comes and says, get a grip woman and slaps her across the face and the camera pans and there's like 20 people all there to like shake her and try to get her to wake up.

And I think sometimes for me, looking out on the state of things, it feels like that's what we need more than anything is we need like a line of 20 or 50 people or something to just like come and slap us all and wake us up to say, hey, you can't just let false teachers in and be nice to them.

Jared Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I mean, we're just unfailingly nice. We just don't have a category for stubborn, hard, you know, sin, responses to sin.

I mean, you know, part of this we're talking about on the polls today, we're talking about And I mean, you know, we just coddle everyone to death.

And I mean, you can imagine like how past generations handled like guys who refused to go to work because they're so sad or whatever.

And they're going to lose the house. They're going to lose them more. They're curled up in a ball, like in a fetal position, unwilling to go to work because people are mean to them.

I mean, you'd have like, you know, the brothers of that wife come over to that house and pour cold water on that dude's head and kick him around and give him some country justice, you know.

But I mean, that's what you I mean, you need that kind of thing. I mean, you can't do it because you're going to go to jail. But I mean, that's

I mean, the Bible doesn't. I mean, Bible says a lot of righteous men strike me. It's a kindness to them, you know, faith for the wounds of a friend.

But perfuse are the kisses of an enemy. Like we need people that, you know, are willing to say things mildly direct, you know.

I mean, one of the things is so funny. I mean, it's so funny that people they get so bent out of shape about some of the stuff we say online.

But I mean, like, if you compare the things we're saying online to Jesus, I mean, it's so mild.

Yeah, yeah. It is the mildest stuff you can possibly imagine. Like, I mean, it's just like, it's like barely like,

I mean, it's the kind of stuff where like, you're literally just kind of like, hey, have you considered that perhaps this could be your fault?

They totally lose it, man. They totally lose it. Have you considered that maybe perhaps there might be a slight sliver of a 1 % of a chance that you could have been a little mistaken?

I mean, they do. And like, I mean, they just, I mean, they don't have any place for anything that would possibly put them in like a negative light whatsoever, you know.

So, I mean, it's just so, I mean, it's, I mean, you compare where we're at right now,

I mean, you have people who they can't even handle the slightest like hint that anything could possibly be their fault, you know.

So, but that's not really the way the Bible speaks. The Bible says, you know, we urge your brothers admonish the idol. Certainly, I mean, you encourage the fainthearted, you help the weak and you're patient with all.

But like admonish is a sharp rebuke, man. Like you sharply rebuke the idol. And so,

I mean, you just have different categories of people. You know, you have people who are struggling and you have people who are, you know, hardening their sin and, you know, everyone needs a different response.

And like there's, I mean, you afflict the comfortable and you comfort the afflicted, right?

So, I mean, I think there's just no one size fits all approach to all these things. And, you know, Jesus obviously knew that there was a time and place to be like very direct.

And part of what's happening is like the larger evangelical world, they're basically just have demanded that we coddle these false teachers and be nice to these false teachers.

And all that ends up doing is just confusing the sheep, because if you're just unfailingly nice to them, then like they don't respond with moral outrage to things they're saying.

They just think, oh, well, they're good guys. They're on our team and we need to love them. And that's where the SBC is doing the stuff it's doing, where even the good, you know, the quote unquote good guys are hugging the false teachers and everything else.

They're trying to be nice to them. They just haven't learned this category that like, hey, you know, you need to say strong things against that false teacher because there's people watching.

And if you don't, then your sheep are going to go think that they're trustworthy and they're going to go after him. And so part of it's for them and part of it's for other people who are watching too.

Pete So lastly, real quick. So how do we differentiate between like a true false teacher and just someone that we differ with on various doctrines?

Aaron Yeah, so I mean, I don't think you want to adopt a position on false teaching that false teaching is any teaching that is false, you know, unbiblical or whatever.

A false teacher is anyone who said anything wrong. I mean, I've said some absurd things just because, you know,

I'm not like an eloquent person or whatever else. I mean, I struggled. I struggled with public speak, you know, like, so I mean, there's times where I would say heretical things on accident.

You know, there's one sermon I did where I accidentally said, Jesus is not God, you know, in my sermon, but I just mixed up the words.

So I mean, I don't think anyone wants to. I mean, you know, there's probably plenty of people who would want to throw me under the bus if they heard me say that and think the worst about it.

But it's like, it was literally an accident, you know? So, you know, oops, I said the wrong thing.

But yeah, no, you know, false teaching isn't just anything that's false, like false teachers, like there's a category for that in Bible.

And typically, it has to do with just denying the central things of the faith. So just to give you some categories, typically,

I guess, about like denials of the gospel. So Paul says, like, if anyone preaches any gospel other than one that's been delivered to you, let them be anathema.

So that's in Galatians. Even if we are an angel from heaven preaching another gospel, let it be anathema, let it be accursed.

That would tell you that if someone's messing with the gospel, they're a false teacher, right? They're a false prophet.

They're a heretic at that point. I mean, you have the Old Testament test of a false prophet. If someone's making a prediction that doesn't come to pass, there's just, you know, one strike and you're out.

Like if you're given a word from the Lord that isn't true, I think we should bring that back.

That's how you understand who a false prophet is, you know? But then, you know, there's also like 1

John talks about if anyone comes preaching a different Christ, you know, like that Jesus didn't come into the flesh, essentially.

So 1 John talks about that. So I think typically like doctrines that are messing with your doctrine of God, your doctrine of Christ, you know, the gospel proper, those are things where you're getting into heresy territory pretty quickly.

Pete Like salvation and stuff as well. Jared Salvation kind of issues, yeah. So things related to salvation in the first instance,

I think you've got to be really very careful about. And so, but yeah, that's typically how you identify a false teacher in that kind of way, for sure.