Should We Confront False Teachers?

Confronting False Teachers in Scripture

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 nonstop 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.

Peter. 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.

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

Pete. Right, right.

Pete. 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?

Jared. 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 him going off on the Pharisees, but I mean, you know, Matthew 23, 13, 13.

But what are 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. What are 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. What are 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.

Pete. Very loving of Jesus. Very loving, very gentle.

Jared. 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, what are 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. What are 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. What are you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites?

For you are like whitewashed tombs which are outwardly appear predible, 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. Like shy, you remember that, that song Shilin did? I think it was literally called fall.

I mean, I'm not the biggest Shilin fan, but you know, I think he, 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.

Jesus' Rebukes of the Pharisees and the Churches

Like that even better. Yeah. I mean, it's funny. I guess, 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. Like he says, what are you Pharisees?

For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace. He says, what do you, where you're like unmarked graves and people walk over them without knowing. And then in verse 46, it's our 45.

It says, one of the lawyers answered him saying teacher and saying these things, you insult us also, you insult us also. And he said, well, to you lawyers. Oh yeah. I forgot about, I forgot.

About you guys. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. You love people with burdens, hard to.

Bear and you yourself did not touch one of the birds with one of your fingers. And then he just says, what do you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your father's killed. Uh, so your 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, uh, 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, um, you know, it's, it's one of those things that are amazing. Like you mentioned revelation or whatever. Uh, but then, uh, let me see if I can pull this up. Um, you, uh, it's, it's, it's one of those things where people just, they don't, um, they don't know Jesus very well.

Right? No, not at all. Not at all. So, so he goes, um, so as he's, you know, you're mentioning he is, um, let's see, he's re rebuking the church at Ephesus or whatever. And he says, you know, but I have this against you.

You've abandoned love you have at 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 lamp stand from his place unless you repent. So, you know, totally threatening them. Right. But then, but then he says yet, yet, uh, 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, um, not, I mean, not only is he like, as he rebuked people and he, and he rebukes them pretty, I mean, he, 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, um, hating these false teachers, you know? So in 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, here's something, uh, 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 the 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, and that's, I think that's what most people, they don't realize. I 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, I mean, what's the purpose behind, you know, being, calling these people out and calling them out in the way that Jesus did?

Why Christians Must Not Coddle Stubborn Sin

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, what we do, because we live in a victim society right now, one of the things that we're constantly trying to do essentially is that 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.

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 think about everyone as if, like, anytime they do something wrong, it's because they almost can't do the right thing, right?

Because it's just too much for them and they're just broken, you know, messes of people and Jesus is so compassionate and whatever else. But, I mean, you're really trained to view, like, adult human beings as if they're two-year-olds, like, that 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 don't think about things in those terms anymore. We don't even have a category for evil. Like, 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, you know, they're being held captive by the devil to do his will and, you know, they're of him. Like, 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 about them, there's not this one-size-fits-all, coddle everyone into the kingdom kind of thing.

Like, the Bible says that 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 him at that point is to say, 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? 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'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 children of Israel who are taking these foreign women, and he says he beat some of them. Like, he yelled at them, he beat some of them, and he pulled out their hair, you know?

Like, their beard hair. 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, like, let a righteous man 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 into 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 their names or.

Whatever. It's like, have you ever seen that movie Airplane? Have you seen Airplane?

I've seen the movie poster.

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 is 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, 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 depression.

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 refuse to go to work, because they're so sad or whatever. And they're going to lose the house, they're going to lose the more you're sitting, you know, 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 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, the Bible says a lot of righteous men strike me as a kindness to them, you know, faith for the wounds of our 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 that's 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. 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.

It's like they totally lose it.

Pete. 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?

Jared 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 what we're, where we're at right now.

I mean, you, you have people who, they can't even handle the slightest like hint that, that anything could possibly be their fault, you know? So, but, 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 faint-hearted, you help the weak and your 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 have, 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, 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 like 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 them.

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? Jared. 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, oops, 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, so 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.

Like salvation and stuff as well. Salvation kind of issues, yeah. So, things related to salvation in the first instance, I think you got to be really very careful about, yeah. And so, but yeah, that's typically how you identify a false teacher in that kind of way.

For sure.

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