Doctrine Matters in the Life of Love.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] 1 John chapter 4. [0:02] Alright, today we’re going to venture into, really we’re going to start the cow tipping [0:06] series early and we’re just going to talk about some sacred cows today. [0:09] We’re going to talk about false prophets. [0:11] 1 John is a book that is pointing us towards Jesus. [0:16] The whole book is about the fact that Jesus has come, He has redeemed, life is to be lived

[0:21] in light of what He did in the gospel. [0:24] And one of the ways that He’s weaving through this is He’s showing us that love has a definition [0:29] and that definition is only found in what God has revealed and in who God is. [0:35] So if we hope to know what love is, we must then go to God. [0:39] And involved in that is the reality that truth exists and that God is not just some far off [0:45] spirit, but rather God is a person.

[0:48] And as a person, He has an identity. [0:51] And John’s goal here is to speak that truth into us and to show us that we need to be [0:57] people who seek the truth of who God is just as we seek the truth of who other people [1:02] are. [1:03] And that to portray lies about God or to believe lies about God is actually in the end unloving. [1:11] This past week we saw some great tragedy happen in Oklahoma and during times like this in

[1:17] the culture, there are so many questions that come up about who God is and how could this [1:24] happen if there is actually a loving and good God. [1:26] And we as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be the type of people who have answers [1:32] when culture asks. [1:33] But here’s what typically happens. [1:36] When the culture begins to ask hard questions, we often cower back because actually we’re

[1:41] afraid that we don’t have answers that will suffice. [1:43] We believe that we’re not equipped to give those types of answers. [1:46] What those moments need to be in our lives are moments where we seek to be equipped, [1:51] but often those feelings fade away after a few moments. [1:55] And in the end, we continue to not have questions, excuse me, to not have answers for the questions [2:00] that people are asking.

[2:02] The reality is that in this society, we always go to places like Job chapter 1 verse 21 where [2:08] Job’s entire family passes away. [2:10] He loses everything and he looks and he says, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and [2:14] then he finishes it. [2:15] And he says, blessed be the name of the Lord. [2:18] That in his moment of tragedy, in his moment of suffering, he turns to God in praise because

[2:24] he knows the truth of who God is. [2:28] He knows the truth of God’s absolute control of all situations. [2:32] And he knows that sin is in the world, excuse me, that suffering is in the world because [2:37] sin exists. [2:39] Friends, tragedy happens because of sin. [2:43] It’s not always because of a personal sin, but it’s just because of the reality that

[2:47] sin exists. [2:48] And this world is under the judgment of sin. [2:51] Romans 8 tells us that this world groans in anticipation of the coming kingdom of God [2:57] because even the earth itself is under the curse of sin. [3:03] And these tragedies happen because of that curse. [3:06] But there’s coming a day when those tragedies won’t happen anymore because God’s going

[3:10] to relent of that curse. [3:11] He’s going to take it away and he’s going to install his perfect kingdom forever. [3:16] But our great fear should be in this world that God’s not in control of those situations. [3:25] Because then it just throws us into a world of chaos. [3:29] It throws us into a world where we don’t know who’s in control. [3:32] But the reality is that Job knew who was in control.

[3:35] And he knew his ultimate hope was not in this world, but rather his ultimate hope was in [3:39] a God who loves. [3:40] And how do we know he loves? [3:42] Because God himself lowered himself into the greatest depths of suffering this world has [3:48] ever known in the person of Jesus Christ. [3:50] And in Jesus, he took the penalty of sin.

[3:54] He took the full brunt of sin suffering in his death. [3:58] And then he rose again on the third day victorious over sin and death. [4:04] So we have a God that loves us to the point where he suffers on our behalf. [4:09] This world will offer us many questions, but it will not cause us to doubt the love and [4:15] care of God for us if we will look to his ultimate hope in Jesus Christ. [4:19] Because through him, we have a God who loves.

[4:23] And through him, we have a God that is worthy of our trust in the face of any situation. [4:28] Because he has promised through Jesus to give us an eternal hope in his kingdom. [4:34] But here’s what’s happening in all of our lives. [4:37] We struggle to trust that. [4:40] We struggle to find our hope because we struggle with what is truth. [4:46] We struggle to know it, therefore we struggle to believe it.

[4:51] But God has not left us without questions. [4:55] God desires for the world to know the truth about him. [5:01] Friends never feel like you need to candy coat the truth about who God is. [5:05] You need to candy coat the truth of God’s control. [5:09] But instead, our view of love must be a love that is filled with the reality of who God is. [5:16] Filled with the truth of who God is.

[5:19] And how do we know that? [5:20] Well, first, it’s through the person of Jesus. [5:23] And second, it’s through the Scriptures. [5:26] If love and truth are found in Jesus, then what are lies? [5:32] Because 1st John has gone into a section that’s all about love. [5:36] All about defining what love is.

[5:39] And last week we saw a lot about the reality that living a life that is not for the gospel [5:45] is an unloving way to live. [5:48] And this week we’re going to take a look at the reality that love is found in the truth [5:51] of who God is. [5:53] So if love is in truth, then hate is found in lies about who God is. [5:58] Join me in 1st John chapter 4 verse 1.

[6:03] Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. [6:10] For many false prophets have gone out into the world. [6:13] By this you know the Spirit of God. [6:16] Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. [6:21] And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. [6:24] This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world

[6:30] already. [6:31] Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. [6:36] For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. [6:41] They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. [6:46] We are from God. [6:48] Whoever knows God listens to us.

[6:50] Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. [6:54] By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. [7:00] So we are introduced in this section to the reality that there are unloving false prophets [7:05] in this world right now. [7:08] He begins to paint a picture that you have been looking forward to an Antichrist to come [7:13] in the future, but he unfolds right there.

[7:14] He says Antichrists are actually here right now. [7:18] And they are seeking to deceive you to follow them rather than to follow Jesus. [7:24] And how are they going to do that? [7:26] Well the first thing we see in this text is that false prophets seek to change the identity [7:31] of Jesus. [7:33] Notice what he says there in the first two verses.

[7:36] But test the spirits to see whether they are from God. [7:41] Note that he is saying that there are going to be false spirits, and these are demons, [7:47] that will lead you in this world to believe errors about who Jesus is. [7:53] In chapter 2 verses 26 through 27 we read this. [7:57] I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. [8:00] But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone

[8:05] should teach you. [8:06] But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has [8:12] taught you, abide in him. [8:14] There are two places in there where you need to understand the reality of what he is talking [8:18] about in review. [8:19] That anointing, you can go ahead and replace that with the term Holy Spirit.

[8:24] That he has given you the very Holy Spirit of God to lead you to do what? [8:29] To abide in him. [8:30] Who is him? [8:31] To abide in Jesus. [8:33] So the Holy Spirit that God gives us, the Holy Spirit that he anoints us with, his task [8:39] is to constantly direct us, to constantly show us that our need through this life is

[8:45] to stay as close to Jesus as possible, so much so that we are abiding in him. [8:50] We are depending fully on him. [8:52] And Jesus himself says in John chapter 15 verse 26, there we are, [9:03] But when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth [9:08] who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [9:13] So what is the task of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

[9:17] The task of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to direct us into Jesus. [9:23] To keep us fully focusing in on Jesus. [9:28] So what then will a false spirit do? [9:32] The false spirits will seek to fill us with lies about Jesus. [9:36] The false spirits will lead us to go towards wrong definitions of who Jesus is. [9:44] Look back in verse 2.

[9:46] He says, at the end of verse 1, he says, many false prophets have gone out into the world. [9:52] By this you know the Spirit of God. [9:56] Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. [10:01] And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. [10:07] Note though what he says when he uses the term Jesus Christ. [10:12] Because that’s where often times we can get off base.

[10:14] Because there are many who will use the name of Jesus. [10:18] There will be many who will proclaim the name of Jesus. [10:21] But he’s talking about specific realities of who Jesus is by the use of the term Christ. [10:28] When he uses that term, it is a very important term that wraps up inside of it that this [10:34] Jesus is the eternal God who has always been. [10:38] This is the Jesus who spoke the world into existence.

[10:42] This is the Jesus who is all powerful. [10:44] This is the Jesus who spoke through men and wrote the very scriptures that we read today. [10:49] This is the Jesus who died on the cross that the Old Testament prophesied about. [10:54] That he would be the Christ, the Messiah, to deliver his people from sin. [11:00] So when we hear people use the term Jesus, John is directing us to ensure that they [11:05] are talking about the real Jesus.

[11:08] Because if they’re using Jesus as anything other than that, then it’s not the Holy Spirit. [11:15] It is a false spirit. [11:17] And he tells us we must discern the spirits by truths about Jesus. [11:21] How do we know truths about Jesus? [11:23] Well, ultimately it’s by what he revealed when he came to the earth, as well as his [11:29] word which he himself wrote.

[11:31] Second Peter chapter 2 verse 1 says it this way, [11:34] But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among [11:39] you, who will secretly bring destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, [11:46] speaking of Jesus, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. [11:52] False teachers redefine Jesus in order to gain a following. [11:58] And he says that they will, and Peter he writes, that they will seek their way into our midst

[12:03] in order to bring us some type of new teaching, in order to bring us some type of new reality [12:08] about Jesus. [12:09] But here’s what you need to understand, anytime someone comes to you and says, well I have [12:13] a new revelation about Jesus, I have a new teaching about Jesus, I have something that [12:17] the world has ever seen, right there, boom, heretic.

[12:22] Jesus has shown us everything we need to know about him in the word. [12:29] He is the perfect God, he is eternal, and if that is true, then he does not change. [12:36] The book of Revelation tells us that’s the end, that’s the final testament until the [12:40] second coming. [12:42] Therefore there is no new revelation that can be added on to scripture. [12:46] Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

[12:48] If someone is perfect, doesn’t that denote that they don’t change? [12:53] You can’t get more perfect. [12:55] Perfect is a state of being. [12:58] Therefore Jesus is not in need of change. [13:02] The gospel must stay the same for the gospel to be true. [13:06] As soon as someone brings a new teaching to us, guess what?

[13:08] It puts at stake the entire foundations of the saving work that Jesus did on the cross. [13:13] In verse 2, John is pointing to a specific teaching that was going on in that church [13:20] right then. [13:21] Note that he says, by this you know the spirit of God. [13:23] Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. [13:29] The teaching that he was dealing with was the teaching called Docetism.

[13:32] John was combating this. [13:34] Jesus was not fully human according to the Docetists. [13:38] What that means is that he was a spirit, he just kind of floated through this world, he [13:43] never really suffered, he never became fully human. [13:46] When he died on the cross, he only appeared to be suffering. [13:49] When he rose from the dead, it wasn’t a physical resurrection, it was a spiritual resurrection.

[13:54] What that did is it completely threw the gospel off. [13:58] Because only a real human can substitute for other humans. [14:04] Jesus had to suffer and die according to Isaiah 53, the prophecy that was ultimately fulfilled in him. [14:10] He had to physically raise from the death to show that God had power over physical death [14:16] so that we would have hope in a future resurrection. [14:19] So the Docetists were false teachers sent by Satan to completely taint and muddy the truth of the gospel.

[14:28] But here’s something that I understand. [14:30] I doubt any of you are struggling with the temptation of Docetism this morning. [14:34] I doubt any of you have come in here this morning and said, hey that’s offensive, I’m a Docetist. [14:38] You’re probably not. [14:40] That was killed by John. [14:43] He took a hatchet to it, it’s over.

[14:45] But throughout history, false teaching continuously rises up as people are deceived [14:52] and people attempt to deceive people away from the truth of the gospel. [14:56] So what I want to do is I want to go through three different false teachings throughout history [15:00] and then a little bit later I’m going to talk about some contemporary false teachings that lead people away from the gospel. [15:05] The first one is Islam. [15:06] The teachings of the prophet Muhammad are completely satanic and not truth.

[15:12] Muhammad claimed an angel came to him in a cave making him a prophet. [15:15] He redefined Jesus as not God but instead a prophet on the same level as Muhammad himself [15:21] but the Muhammad then would go on to say that he was greater than Jesus. [15:26] The reality is that Muhammad is a satanic heretic and that ultimately he led many people astray. [15:34] If you read the Quran you will see Jesus is in the Quran but he completely redefines who Jesus is [15:40] and actually says this angel led him to reinvent true faith because the Jews and the Christians

[15:47] had perverted the truth about what faith is supposed to be in a new God that he calls Allah. [15:54] Allah is not the same God as Yahweh, Allah is the devil. [15:58] So the reality is that Muhammad was a false teacher who perverted Christianity [16:04] into a form of aggressive heresy that still plagues this world today.

[16:10] Secondly, throughout history we’ve seen the false teaching of Mormonism pop up. [16:15] Joseph Smith who founded Mormonism was a con artist claiming an angel gave him a new revelation [16:21] in the book of Mormon which redefined the entire faith and the identity of God [16:25] taking his eternality away, denying the trinity and providing a pathway for humans to become gods. [16:33] Mormonism rejects Jesus’ divinity altogether. [16:36] What Mormons will do is they will come to you and they will say take this book, this new revelation

[16:41] the book of Mormonism, read it and then pray to God and ask him whether or not it is true. [16:47] What they are actually leading you to do is to put yourself into a position of spiritual warfare [16:51] where demons will actually tell you that what you are reading is true. [16:55] You should not read the book of Mormon, you should not discuss anything with those false prophets. [17:01] Second John tells us to not even let them into our homes. [17:04] But what you can do is you can give them my address and I’ll talk to them on my doorstep

[17:07] because I, let me tell you, it’s a good time for me, I have a good time. [17:12] But I don’t suggest you do it, okay? [17:16] Because they are false teachers. [17:18] Mormonism is a satanic cult. [17:20] In our last election cycle many were tempted because of political commitments [17:26] to try to redefine Mormonism as Christianity

[17:29] and people are still doing that right now. [17:32] Mormonism is a cult, it is a lie from the devil. [17:35] It demeans Jesus Christ. [17:38] The Jehovah’s Witness cult was started by Charles Taze Russell. [17:42] It rejected historic Christianity and founded a new religion [17:45] with a new Bible in order to focus on predictions about the end times.

[17:49] He led many to subsequently redefine the entire faith, [17:54] strip Jesus of divinity and reject biblical doctrine for his own ideas. [18:00] These are cults that have started throughout history [18:02] that are still leading people astray to this day. [18:08] They are from false prophets, false spirits. [18:12] They do not have the truth inside of them.

[18:17] False prophets then are anti-Christ [18:20] because they lead people away from the truth of Jesus. [18:25] False prophets in the context of 1 John 4, 1-6 are not loving.

[18:32] They only love themselves. [18:35] Anything that distracts or detracts from Jesus is demonic. [18:39] In his craftiness Satan only seeks to take away from Jesus [18:42] to ensure our demise. [18:44] He seeks to muddy the waters of Jesus and all truth connected to Jesus. [18:48] John wasn’t saying that people just needed to claim Jesus to be okay.

[18:52] His goal here is the truth of Jesus and those are specific truths. [18:57] When he invokes the term Christ, he is speaking to the whole truth of scriptures concerning Jesus. [19:03] Here’s the reality. The devil does not come to us with horns and a pitchfork in order to get us to follow him. [19:09] I doubt any of you are tempted to get into a garage around a pentagram [19:12] with a bunch of goth kids and chant, hail Satan.

[19:16] Frankly, Satan doesn’t need to do that. [19:19] All that he needs to do to ensure that your destination is the same as his [19:23] is distract you from who Jesus really is. [19:27] To detract from the glory of Jesus Christ. [19:30] Once he gets your affections off of Jesus and onto anything else [19:36] he’s got you.

[19:38] He’s crafty and he is strategic in his workings and he uses [19:42] false prophets and has always used false prophets to get us away [19:46] from the truth of Jesus in the Bible. [19:49] The reality is that if truth is unknown, how will you [19:54] know Christ from anti-Christ? [19:57] That’s why so many are tempted away. Because they’ve not saturated their minds

[20:02] and their hearts with the word of God. [20:06] They’ve not saturated their lives with the truth about who God is. [20:10] Jesus is not an undefined spiritual understanding like I said. [20:14] He is a person who defined himself through his historic life [20:18] on this earth as well as through the whole of scriptures from Genesis [20:22] to Revelation about who he really is.

[20:27] Friends, if I did not know [20:30] my wife, if I did not spend time frankly [20:34] studying her likes, her dislikes, living with her, [20:38] knowing her, guess what? There could be people who would come to me and tell me lies [20:42] about her. To rob my affections away from her. To rob my love [20:46] away from her. To get me to distrust the truth about her.

[20:50] But here’s the reality this morning folks. I know my wife. I love my wife. [20:54] I’m an expert on my wife. And if you come to me with lies about my wife [20:58] what my reaction is going to be? I’m going to punch you square in the face. [21:01] If you lie about my wife. Because I know her. [21:05] But here’s the reality. We are called into a loving relationship with God. [21:11] And the way in which we know

[21:13] truth from error about him is because we know about him. [21:17] Because we love him so much that we study him. Our affections are stoked by him. [21:20] So we seek the truth about who he is. So that when false prophets come our way [21:25] we know truth from error. [21:29] And the US meant when they are training [21:32] secret service agents to know false currency and counterfeit currency

[21:36] from real currency. They do not during that training bring in counterfeit money. [21:41] During that training they are given real [21:44] 100 dollar bills to study down to the minute [21:48] detail. They look at what real currency is. [21:52] Every little cotton fiber. Every little metal strip. [21:56] Everything, every little watermark they know the truth about real money.

[22:00] And when you know the truth about what the real thing looks like [22:03] as soon as you see a counterfeit you know it. [22:08] Friends that should be our relationship with God. [22:12] We are so consumed with who he is. We are so intent [22:15] on knowing his word. We are so intent on knowing the truth about who [22:20] he is that as soon as someone puts a counterfeit teaching in front of us

[22:24] we know it immediately and reject it immediately. [22:29] John is warning us about the anti-Christ that are on this world [22:32] right now. But the game that we often play [22:36] is that doctrine isn’t important. And we will say things like [22:40] well can’t we all just meet at Jesus?

[22:44] Friends that is an erroneous statement that can’t be true. [22:48] Because the reality is when we say things like that what is going to happen is [22:51] we are all going to meet at a different Jesus. [22:55] Many people will use the name of Jesus but not mean [22:59] the same person that scripture shows us. [23:03] Many people will use the name of Jesus and mean a completely satanic

[23:07] fashion of Jesus. Demons themselves will claim to be Jesus [23:11] if it will get us away from the real Jesus. So everything that he gave us [23:16] in his word matters. Every doctrine of scripture [23:19] matters. Every belief that we have about God and the church [23:23] and Jesus and salvation and redemption. Everything [23:27] matters because God wants us to know who

[23:31] he is. And when we start to pretend that error is [23:35] okay we begin to set ourselves up to be led [23:39] astray by false teachings. We should be [23:43] a people defined by our ultimate commitment to the truth [23:48] of the word of God. God leaving us in error [23:52] and leading us in vague spaces would be completely unloving.

[23:56] But instead in Ephesians chapter 1 he unfolds that [23:59] every mystery about God that we need to know has been [24:04] shown in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is a God who [24:08] loves us to the point where he wants to be known in his work [24:12] of redemption. Therefore doctrine matters in the life of [24:16] love. Because God is so loving he doesn’t want us to live in

[24:20] places of error. Satan then [24:24] uses false prophets to drive your hope [24:28] in this world and in yourself.

[24:33] Verse 3 says that every spirit that does not confess [24:36] Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of Antichrist which you [24:40] heard was coming and now is in the world already. [24:43] Little children you are from God and have overcome [24:48] them for he who is in you is greater [24:51] than he who is in the world.

[24:55] Do you understand that the power that God gives us through the Holy Spirit will reveal to us all [24:59] the mysteries of God. He will lead us into all the truths of Scripture [25:03] and he will ultimately reveal to us through the word that he will lead us to the word [25:07] of Jesus to truths about [25:11] God. John is echoing what Jesus [25:15] himself said in John 16 33 when he said I have overcome

[25:19] the world. When I read that there and when I read it in this [25:23] text what it tells me is that if Jesus [25:27] had to overcome it then the truth of the reality is [25:31] my hope can never be found in it. Therefore [25:35] in this life we are not to seek anything that is of this world [25:39] but rather we are to seek that which is above and that is the person

[25:43] of Jesus. But if hope will not be found in this [25:47] world and God has overcome the lies of this world how are we led astray [25:51] by false teachers. Look at this [25:55] sometimes we become our own false prophets. [26:00] Sometimes dissatisfaction with God can be [26:04] caused because he is not making our hopes and goals in this world

[26:07] come true. Maybe we have a fantasy life in mind [26:11] or we have a goal that we want to reach or we have some kind of job and [26:15] career that we are seeking or a mate that we really want and we don’t get [26:19] it and it never comes and we ask God for it [26:24] and he didn’t give it to us so it leads us to dissatisfaction [26:28] but what you are doing is you are trying to find your hope in this world

[26:32] so in that sense you become your own false [26:35] teacher because you are begging God for promises that he has [26:39] never made. The reality of redemption is that God [26:43] most of the time will change our dreams because our dreams, our [26:47] fantasies, our goals are not enough. God wants us to have his dreams [26:51] God wants us to have his goals. He wants us to have his vision. So he must

[26:55] redeem us from the reality that we want the wrong things. [26:59] Don’t become a false teacher to yourself.

[27:03] False teaching can also come from [27:05] people who place the burden of salvation on your moralistic effort [27:09] and your loyalty to a person or an organization [27:14] and they will demand your loyalty, they will demand your dependence on [27:18] them and they will drive your hopes downward into them [27:21] rather than into the God who has offered salvation through the free grace of Jesus Christ.

[27:28] Or maybe false teaching comes from [27:30] promises of people who say that your faith can change reality and build [27:34] riches and secure health in this world. [27:38] It’s the false gospel of the prosperity gospel that we will get to in just a moment. [27:43] And finally teaching that adds necessary [27:46] steps to salvation apart from faith in Jesus and miraculous manifestations

[27:50] of spirits. They can say sure, maybe [27:54] you are saved but has God done the miraculous through you? [27:58] Well if he hasn’t made a miraculous manifestation happen in your life then maybe you are not [28:02] saved. They are driving your affections downward into this [28:06] world or adding extra steps to salvation. [28:10] Well have you spoken in tongues? Well has he healed you of this sickness?

[28:14] Has he done this? Has he done that? Because that’s the only way that you can really be saved. [28:18] These are false teachings that are found nowhere in [28:22] scripture. Friends false prophets must be identified, [28:26] exposed, and rebuked. [28:29] 1 John 4, verse 5 says that those false [28:34] teachers, they are from the world, therefore they speak from the

[28:38] world and the world listens to them. [28:42] Sometimes we get confused because we see these giant mega churches. [28:47] We see these huge followings, guys that have best sellers. [28:51] How could they be a false teacher if there is so much success happening to them? [28:54] Well the reality is, John points it out right there, the world is going to love it [28:59] when it is from the world. Don’t be surprised if they lead

[29:03] people astray. Satan is very cunning in the way that he works. He drives [29:06] our affections into this world, our affections into our desires of this [29:11] life of money, wealth, and fame.

[29:15] We must identify them, we must expose them, and we must rebuke them. [29:19] And I want to deal with three. The ones I see most prevalent [29:23] in our society is first, the health and wealth prosperity gospel that does [29:27] not lead to Jesus and is therefore false [29:30] prophecy. Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, T.D. [29:35] Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Paula White are all false teachers

[29:38] and ultimately being used by Satan to lead people astray. I will not [29:43] speak of their own souls as that is God’s business, but I know their teachings are [29:47] anti-Christ. 95% of what you see on TBN [29:51] is completely false prophecy. Maybe 5% of the time we get a good guy [29:55] in there. But the reality of what they do is they seek to bring [29:59] your affections down into this world. That if you follow Jesus

[30:03] he is going to make you rich, he is going to make you healthy, you will never suffer. [30:07] Are you suffering? Well clearly you don’t have enough faith to be made whole. [30:11] You don’t have a ton of money, you don’t drive a Rolls Royce? [30:15] Well clearly you don’t have the faith that pastor has. [30:18] The reality is he is bilking everybody in the church for a salary [30:23] that drives everybody else bankrupt.

[30:26] Sew this seed into my ministry and he will get you out of debt. [30:29] In reality they drive you further into debt. Why don’t they sew that seed? [30:33] Ever wondered that?

[30:37] They preach a gospel that leads you to place your hope in this world. Rich is health, [30:41] positive attitudes and lack of hardships are the goal of their theology. It is not [30:45] because of Jesus and thus it is ultimately bankrupt. [30:48] Paul warns in 1 Timothy 6, 9-10 he says,

[31:11] Next time you see a prosperity gospel person throw that in their face [31:14] and say you seem to only want me to be rich. [31:17] The reality is that God promises that if that is my desire [31:20] then I am inviting destruction into my life. Do not seek me to be rich. [31:23] [31:23]

[31:23] [31:23] Seek money, seek Jesus. He tells you your hope is not in this world, [31:27] your hope is in his kingdom. Live for him. Don’t live for the false [31:31] prosperity that people like Joel Osteen will tell you. When they say things like [31:35] speak God’s word and it will create a new reality into your existence, [31:39] John MacArthur writes that they are not speaking about scriptures, rather they are speaking about

[31:43] a mystical word that comes to you in your thoughts and dreams. [31:48] They don’t even believe in the authority of scripture. Rapper and [31:51] theologian, Shy Lin says it this way, [31:55] they are theologians now apparently. If you come to Jesus for money then he is not [31:59] your God, money is. Jesus is not a means to an end. The gospel [32:03] is he came to redeem us from sin and that is the message forever I

[32:07] yell. If you are living your best life now you are heading for hell. [32:12] The only way you can have your best life now is if you are [32:15] going to hell. Even the titles of their own books [32:19] are stupid.

[32:25]

[32:34] second one, [32:36] second one, [32:37] I go all day about those guys. [32:39] In the words of John Piper, I hate the prosperity gospel. I hate it.

[32:46] Not the rabbit trail, but they take it to [32:47] places like Kenya and Ghana and Uganda where people are suffering and dying of [32:51] AIDS and extreme poverty and they will take them a false gospel. [32:56] If you will believe in Jesus he will take all this away.

[33:01] My God those vampires.

[33:04] I am not God, but I know what bad [33:07] fruit looks like.

[33:11] Secondly, the emergent pluralistic gospel does not [33:16] lead to Jesus. This is the gospel of men like Brian McLaren and Rob [33:20] Bell. Rob Bell is an example of a new teacher in Christianity who challenges [33:24] historic faith with hopes that he will be relevant to the [33:28] emerging culture. The danger that he [33:32] does is at the expense of the authoritative truth of God and

[33:36] scripture and that does not change with culture.

[33:41] From the virgin birth to the existence of hell, he does not flat out [33:44] deny it, but promotes vagueness and supreme doubt. [33:48] His latest work promotes rejecting historic faith for an understanding of God [33:52] which must evolve with culture. Culture then is the definer of God [33:56] rather than God himself through revelation. If we cannot know for certain [34:00] then we must lean on the side of acceptance of cultural

[34:04] interpretation. Therefore, as culture progresses, so must [34:08] our understanding of who God is. Unfortunately for Rob Bell, God’s [34:12] perfect, therefore he doesn’t need to change, but culture certainly does to keep up [34:16] with God. Rob Bell is a false prophet. [34:22] False teachers often cast themselves thirdly [34:25] as the man of God who cannot

[34:28] be questioned. This does not mean that teachers shouldn’t be [34:32] men of God. I pray village churches full of [34:36] people of God. What this means is that I cannot [34:40] stand up in front of you and say, you can’t question me because I’m the man of God [34:44] who gets special revelation that you yourself do not get [34:48] because ultimately this is the heresy of Roman Catholicism. The Catholic

[34:52] Church says that the Pope is the vicar of Christ and for forgiveness of sins I must go [34:56] and confess to a priest. I don’t need to confess my sins to any person. I go [35:00] straight to Jesus Christ. Paul writes that there is one intercessor between God [35:04] and man and that is the man Jesus Christ. If you want forgiveness of sins, go to him [35:08] and confess to him alone. God has not set up a special papacy. [35:13] The Pope is a heretic. This past week the Pope threw some nonsense

[35:17] out there that atheists who do good deeds are going to heaven. [35:20] Well won’t they be surprised when they get there and God happens to be there. I find that it will be [35:25] quite offensive for atheists.

[35:31] The scripture leads us that we must [35:33] trust God through Jesus Christ in order to meet God through Jesus [35:37] Christ. The book of Revelation tells me that one day I will stand face to face [35:41] with Jesus and I will worship him forever more. Therefore this type of [35:45] teaching must be rejected. There is one [35:49] God that we must go to and that is Jesus and he alone

[35:53] gives me grace. To put anyone [35:57] in that type of position is to invite all types of folly because every [36:01] word that emerges from the mouth of the Pope is supposedly new [36:04] revelation. Therefore it is tacked onto the end of scripture. [36:09] Friends that is dangerous and has led to all types [36:13] of heresy.

[36:17] This also happens inside of churches that set up the [36:21] organization around a personality, around one man whose vision [36:24] you must be loyal to. And if you are disloyal to that they bring into [36:28] question your entire salvation. Friends you [36:32] do not need to be loyal to me. You need to be loyal to [36:36] Jesus. Because I will tell you straight up I am not going to be loyal to you. I am going to be loyal to

[36:40] Jesus. And if we are all seeking Jesus [36:45] guess what? We are all going the same direction. [36:49] I have no more of God than you do.

[36:53] Because I seek the same God, Jesus. The same [36:56] Holy Spirit that you need is the same Holy Spirit that I need. The same grace [37:00] and forgiveness that you need is the same grace and forgiveness that I must live my life completely [37:05] dependent upon. Friends our allegiance [37:09] our loyalty must be to God. We see this happen all the [37:12] times in large churches and organizations such as in our own city when we see

[37:17] things like the Richmond Outreach Center. And I do not speak to the truth [37:20] of any of the claims but I will say the practice reveals a person. [37:26] We must realize that organizations that are set up [37:29] around one man as soon as that one man falls begins to fall apart. [37:33] And if the fall of a man can lead you away from Jesus [37:37] your faith was not in Jesus. Therefore seek Jesus

[37:42] for hope and restoration.

[37:46] Jude 3 tells us

[37:52] Beloved [37:52] although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation I found it [37:57] necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith [38:00] that was once for all delivered to the saints. You know what contend for the [38:05] faith means? It means fight for it. It means [38:08] defend it. In Galatians chapter 1 verses 8

[38:13] and 9 Paul writes but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you [38:17] a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you let him be accursed [38:21] as we have said before so now I say again if anyone is preaching to you [38:25] a gospel contrary to the one you receive let him be accursed [38:29] we must know the gospel of Jesus Christ [38:33] in order to stay faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[38:38] So how do you protect yourself from false teachers?

[38:41] This is not an exhaustive list that you are going to see on the screen [38:44] but it is some ideas of how to protect yourself. [38:49] First trust the grace of Jesus.

[38:52] Trust him. Trust his work. [38:56] Trust his forgiveness. Trust who he is [38:59] above absolutely everything else and everything you run into [39:03] put it through the filter of the grace of Jesus. [39:07] Secondly study the scriptures as a story of God’s redemption through Jesus because what will happen [39:11] is that people will take a verse completely out of context

[39:14] build an entire theology out of it when it is not the way scripture [39:18] actually means for that verse we must look at the whole of scripture [39:22] we must look at the whole story Genesis to Revelation it is the story [39:26] of Jesus the Old Testament leads us to Jesus and then [39:31] leads us away from Jesus learning how to follow him. [39:34] Study the scriptures. Thirdly form life around the mission

[39:38] of Jesus. When you are seeking to be faithful to Jesus [39:42] when you are seeking to make disciples you tend to know truth from error. [39:46] You tend to live a life repenting of sin so that you cannot define [39:51] truth by your sin and be led to find hope in those sins [39:54] by people who would teach you that you need to seek that. [39:59] Fourth join a faithful church committed to God’s word and glory.

[40:03] This is a reality when you put yourself in isolation [40:07] you are putting yourself in the line of temptation. [40:10] You need to surround yourself with a community. [40:13] Then learn under faithful teachers. [40:16] Learn under those who are older in the faith than you are. [40:20] Learn under those who have gauged more understanding of the gospel than you have.

[40:24] I am still doing this and so should you. [40:28] Discern everything through scripture and prayer. Everything. [40:32] Finally put the glory of God above all else. [40:37] When you are seeking the glory of God in everything [40:40] sickness takes on a whole new meaning. Riches take on [40:44] a whole new meaning. Your career takes on a whole

[40:49] new meaning. Because you begin to try to take everything captive [40:53] to bring him glory through it. Therefore you end up [40:57] seeking him. Finally this morning [40:59] embrace, value, defend and spread truth [41:04] in joy and love. Look at verse 5 and 6 [41:09] They are from the world therefore they speak from the world

[41:12] and the world listens to them. We are from God. [41:17] Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God [41:21] does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth [41:24] and spirit of error. John says faithfulness can be [41:29] defined. It starts with Jesus then it goes through his [41:32] apostles then it builds the church of Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 2 says

[41:37] And when you are committed to the example of Jesus and the [41:41] apostles you will seek a life built upon truth. [41:45] Loving God then is seeking truth. Acts chapter 17 [41:49] verse 11 puts it this way. Now these Jews were [41:53] more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with eagerness. [41:57] Look at this. Examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

[42:01] He looks to the Bereans and he says it is amazing that when I came to [42:07] you and I was telling the truth you studied the scriptures. [42:10] This is the apostle Paul we are talking about.

[42:14] So you should at least do that when I preach. [42:18] If Paul needed it I needed you to do it more.

[42:22] When you hear people claiming to show what God is saying [42:26] where are you going to ensure the validity of their statements? [42:32] Paul says in Acts 17 and 11 the scriptures. [42:35] That is what must be your ultimate authority. [42:38] In being disciples, becoming disciples and making disciples we must have our beliefs [42:43] rooted in truth and whatever church we enter into the discipleship environments

[42:47] of it must have doctrines based on the truth of [42:51] Jesus scripture. Many are deceived because they don’t even know what their [42:55] churches believe. Often times in our [42:59] culture right now if you have really good music, if you have a funny [43:03] preacher and you have a comfortable atmosphere it must be from God right?

[43:09] Not necessarily. [43:11] What I believe should matter to you. [43:15] What Village Church believes should matter to you. [43:18] Have you read our doctrinal statement? I pray that you have. If you haven’t I will give you grace. [43:23] Go home and do it today. But any church that you go to [43:27] go to their doctrine. What do they believe?

[43:31] Is it error? Because a lot of churches will have really [43:35] fun stuff to be a part of and then in the end oh by the way [43:39] they are flaming heretics.

[43:44] They are in Chesterfield County friends.

[43:49] Your hope must be in the grace [43:51] of Jesus. We have seen in 1st John and elsewhere that [43:55] Jesus is our hope. He alone saves. The world does not [43:59] offer satisfying hope and anything that promises to do it here and now [44:03] will ultimately lead to furthered frustration and dissatisfaction. [44:08] This world is sinful and God has promised that he will deliver

[44:11] his kingdom which will refine and restore all of creation [44:15] to God’s perfect vision and all those false prophets will be thrown into hell. [44:20] Only then will you find true satisfaction [44:23] and the face to face worship of the God [44:27] that we can know. As the band [44:31] comes up I want you to understand that God

[44:35] wants you to know him. God wants you to know the truth about him. [44:39] He wants you to know the whole truth about him and the person, work [44:44] as well as word of Jesus Christ. [44:48] Every week here at the village we spend time reflecting on [44:51] what is called the Lord’s Supper. The reason we do that is because we are [44:55] very forgetful people and every week we ensure

[44:59] by partaking in the Lord’s Supper that we remember [45:03] the gospel of Jesus. The cup represents [45:07] his shed blood for our sins. [45:12] That the God of the universe came to earth, became a human being [45:16] and life exited his body so that he could give me [45:20] life. The bread represents the broken body of

[45:23] Jesus. Him becoming a human being, [45:28] flesh, dying on that cross, paying the [45:31] ultimate payment for my sin. That I deserve to [45:36] endure the wrath of God but instead he took on the form of flesh [45:40] and endured the wrath of God so that we wouldn’t have to.

[45:45] The Lord’s Supper stands as a monument to [45:47] the love and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [45:51] We drink and we eat to signify the metaphor [45:54] of the life of God entering into our lives. [45:59] He has given us his spirit.

[46:02] He has given us his truth. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ [46:07] in here today, in just a few moments I am going to call you to one of the six stations [46:11] around this room. What you are going to do is you want you to go to those tables [46:15] and I want you to remind yourself of the gospel. I want you to remind [46:19] yourself of the truth and I want you to pray to the Holy Spirit, continue to [46:23] guide me into truth. If you are not a follower of

[46:27] Jesus, if you are someone that has doubts, if you are someone maybe [46:31] you have believed false teaching and today God is drawing you through [46:35] the truth of his word. I want to invite you to a relationship with [46:39] God. I want you to invite you to turn from your sins that have been rebellion [46:43] against God and trust in the grace and forgiveness that he [46:47] gives us through his son Jesus. I would love to talk to you about it.

[46:52] I would love to spend a moment praying with you and for you. [46:56] But it is not me that you need. [46:59] It is Jesus. You need to trust him. [47:03] He promises he will save you. [47:07] When you are ready, come.