Unmasking False Teachings

G'day, thanks for joining the Heights Church podcast today. We hope you enjoy our message.

If you're in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Gorsham

Road, Horses Heights, Sydney, Australia.

Okay, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 14. It's good to have your Bibles out because

1 Timothy 3:14

it allows us to then double check what the speaker's saying,

which is awesome because it's not me, it's Tony.

So Tony can be double checking.

It is good to have your Bibles open. The words are on the screen as well.

So here we go. 1 Timothy 3.14.

This is Paul speaking to Timothy.

Although I hope to come to you soon, I'm writing you these instructions so that

if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's

household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Beyond all question, the mystery from which godliness springs is great.

He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels,

was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and

follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods which

God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received

with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good

minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good

teaching that you have followed.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales.

Rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value,

but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present

life and the life to come.

This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labour

and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God who is the saviour

of all people, and especially of those who believe.

Thanks, Tony. Have you ever come across a fake $50 note?

How would you know it was fake or real?

Treasuries all around the world go to a lot of trouble to build in security

measures to make it harder for criminals to be able to forge banknotes and by

the same token, easier for banks and the police to identify the notes that are not real.

You can't just run a banknote through a photocopier or a printer and expect

to be able to fool people.

Today, our banknotes in Australia are made using a special polymer plastic

with a transparent window and some special embedded fluorescent print,

making it almost impossible to copy and to counterfeit, but not totally impossible.

Seems there's always going to be someone who wants to try. But have a look at

the images behind me, and I'm going to ask you, which one of those do you think is the fake?

The bloke who made the fakes, he made enough for $1 million worth of $50 notes,

if they'd gone into circulation.

But fortunately, he was caught before that could happen. They're both very similar

looking notes, aren't they?

And it's only the trained eye, someone who's used to identifying the real notes

from the fakes, can usually pick them up.

The general public would say, yeah, that looks okay to me. It has the identifying

security marks, the transparent window.

It's made with polymer plastic. It has the right artwork.

I mean, it's not Anthony Albanese or Donald Trump's picture on the front,

is it? So it's not an obvious fake.

I'd reckon that most of us would accept either of these notes as legal tender,

unless someone trained helped us to see.

All right, you got it? Which one is the fake? Raise your hands if you think

it's the first, the top one.

A couple. Raise your hand if you think it's the bottom one. The majority.

Well, which is it? It's actually the bottom one.

The bottom one is lighter, and it only has four stars in the window.

As you see in the one above, there should be five.

And the Treasury Governor's signature, we can't probably read it from there,

there should have been Stevens.

Very close. And how subtle are those changes between the real note and the fake note?

How easy would it be for most of us to be taken in by the fake note?

So I want us to hold that thought. How easy is it are we to be taken in by false teaching?

I think there's probably going to be a few people going to go out and check

their bank notes after the service, pull them out of their pocket.

Do they have four stars or five?

So today is the, thanks Cass, today is the last session in our series on 1 Timothy,

which you will recall is the pastoral letter from the Apostle Paul to Timothy,

his co-worker and fellow evangelist.

It was written so that Timothy would understand Paul's direction to establish

the church and and the church structures in Ephesus, where he had been sent as the pastor.

In many ways, 1 Timothy is similar in context and direction that Paul gives

to Titus in the book of the same name, when he sends Titus to establish the

church and church structure in Crete.

Basically, carbon copy, if you like, with similar instructions and warnings.

Both men were being sent into Gentile communities where the worship was different

of different pagan gods, which historically had influenced the culture and the

cultural thinking in the community.

Timothy and Titus' challenge was to establish the gospel and gospel living that

would not be impacted by those outside influences.

Last week, Chris showed us that Timothy was instructed to appoint elders and

deacons, the elders to teach and the deacons to administer the day-to-day support of the community.

He showed us the qualities and qualifications that Paul required in those to serve in those roles.

They were the same instructions that Paul gave to Titus in establishing the church in Crete.

And now he says, teach the men and the women what godly living looks like.

Teach them to be upright and godly in all that they do.

Teach them to be obedient to Jesus' teaching in all areas of their lives,

both in private and in public.

He calls it in the marketplace, where their actions and their responses are

most observed in the community.

He says, teach the older men and women to be able to teach the younger men and

women how to live and behave.

Save and above all he says to Timothy be godly

yourself train yourself in godliness

because godliness has value in all

things and as the pastor elder as the leader in the Christian community in Ephesus

I want you Timothy to show godliness to your people show them the love that

Christ has for them is real as is it is sacrificial love that changes lives

and relationships be Be their example.

Teach them to hold fast to the truth of the gospel and Jesus' teachings,

and through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, the church will grow.

But I need to warn you, it's not going to be easy. There will be those in the

church who will hold different views to Christ's teaching.

Yes, even some like Hymenaeus and Alexander, right there in Ephesus. us.

Hymenaeus and Alexander who I condemn as false teachers as they are corrupting

the faith of those they are influencing.

Paul talks in the strongest terms about such false teachers in chapter 4, as he had in chapter 1,

and he exhorts Timothy as the pastor elder to refute their teaching and not

allow them to influence the community.

Paul says, teach the church the true gospel message and do not waver from it.

Teach the church the error of the false teachers and not to get caught up in

the sin they present as truth.

Show the church by the godliness of your life and actions that you have been

nourished in the truth of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

By this, Paul says, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ.

So what are we to make of that?

There are, and we should expect, there to be false teachers in the church.

We are to be aware of their influence and ensure that we can counter their influence

by each of us being grounded in the truth, to understand what is real and what is a counterfeit faith.

Paul states his reason for his instruction to Timothy in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.

He said, Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions.

So that if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves

in God's household, which is the church of the living God.

The pillar and foundation of the truth. Paul reinforces that the church holds

a special place. It is God's household.

His church is to be the pillar and foundation of the truth.

And there is a requirement how God's people honour him in the way they conduct

themselves in his household.

So it is important, no, critically important, that the truth of the gospel message

is not misrepresented represented, or changed, or watered down in its presentation.

For by that, people are led astray.

It would have been interesting in the church in Ephesus where Hymenaeus and Alexander met.

I'm guessing they were never going to be asked to be an elder or a deacon,

whilst ever they held the views that they did.

I imagine it would have been a source of constant friction and trouble for young Timothy,

dealing with people in the church who were most likely undermining the pastor's

teaching with their biblical interpretation and likely disparaging of him because of his youth.

We know that Timothy had yet to reach the age of 40, an age in ancient culture

where a man was thought to have attained a level of education and wisdom which

allowed people to take him seriously in his knowledge and teaching.

Paul says to Timothy, don't let anyone one look down on you because you are

young, but set an example to the believers in your speech, in your conduct,

in love, in faith, and in purity.

Seems like good advice to any pastor, really, doesn't it? Whether they are young

or not, setting an example for the believers in their speech,

in their conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Not perfect, but an example for others to observe and imitate.

So, Chris and Mark, I don't know how you feel about that, but being under the

microscope every minute of the day, which makes me wonder, do we place a greater

expectation on our pastors than we would expect of each other?

In our speech, in our conduct, in our love, in our faith, in our purity?

As followers of Christ, it should be the same, shouldn't it?

Our pastors are just like us, and we should respect and treat them as such.

There was a recent online survey recently in England which asked church parishioners

to list all the qualities that they would expect of a perfect pastor.

It's humorous, so I thought I'd share it with you. The perfect pastor would

preach for exactly 12 minutes. I think I've gone past that already.

They are 28 years old, but they've been preaching for 30 years.

They work from 8am to midnight every day, but they're also the church caretaker.

They frequently condemn sin, but they never upset anybody.

They wear good clothes, buy good books, drive a good car, give generously to

the poor, and have a very low salary.

They make 15 daily calls to parish families, they visit the housebound and those

in hospital, they spend all their time evangelising to the unchurch,

and are always in the office when someone needs them.

Oh, and they're also very good looking.

The survey didn't say anything about having hair.

In reply, I wonder how a pastor would rate the perfect parishioner, you and I.

Paul tells Timothy that he rates a minister as a good minister if he holds firm

to the truth of the gospel,

teaching and encouraging those in his congregation, if he refutes false teachers

and trains himself in all godliness.

Certainly a difference in focus

from how we imagine or might imagine the pastor should be serving us.

To how we see and value our pastors in their serving God and us supporting them

in their ministry through prayer, friendship, love and unity.

Being a pastor is a noble calling and a difficult task, as Timothy was to find

out with false teachers in his midst, spreading dissent and creating factions in the early church.

Now, although we aren't told directly what specific false teaching was from

Hymenaeus and Alexander, The charge that Paul brings against them is that they

have departed from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

They have turned to meaningless talk and have suffered shipwreck with regards to their faith.

Strong words, aren't they? What are we to make of that?

Some commentators suggest that

they did not believe in the physical resurrection of believers to come,

others suggesting that they followed the Judeo-Christian ideas prevalent at

the a time, and was also referred to in the book of Titus as meaningless talk,

that the false teaching required believers to obey the traditional Jewish food

laws and to be circumcised.

These, they said, were true markers of true Christianity.

They believed in Jesus as Messiah and his saving grace, but they also believed

that they had to do certain things and abstain from certain foods to show the

extent of their faith and true following of Christ.

Paul emphatically says this is not so.

He calls them a rebellious group full of meaningless talk and deception.

In Titus he goes further and calls Titus to rebuke them.

They must be silenced, he said, because they are disrupting households by teaching

things they ought not to do.

False teachers that will be teaching things that they should not be teaching

against the gospel adding things

in telling people they need to do certain things when it is not required,

So true faith and belief in Christ does not require anything more than our faith

and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

The penalty for our sins has been paid. And I'm sure that Hymenaeus and Alexander

agreed with that teaching.

Paul goes on to reinforce this for us in his letter in the Ephesian church in

those well-known verses in Ephesians 2.

For it is by grace you have been

saved through faith, and it is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Can boast. And concerning circumcision, he continues in verse 11, Therefore,

remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth are called uncircumcised

by those who call themselves the circumcision, which is done in the body by human hands.

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship

in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise.

You were without hope and without God in the world. But now,

in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed

the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the

law with its commands and regulations.

The Jewish tradition of the old covenant was circumcision.

The Christian tradition under the new covenant is faith in Christ Jesus.

By his blood we have been saved, brought near to God. We are no longer under

the law and its traditions. There is a new covenant.

The old covenant is extinguished.

Therefore, requiring a person to be circumcised as a Christian believer is a false teaching.

Likewise, Paul says that it is false teaching to require Christians not to marry

or to abstain from certain foods, as we read in the passage.

He says such teaching comes from liars who have been deceived by demons,

whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Again, strong words, but for a reason.

False teaching, if allowed to remain in the church, affects how people understand

and respond to the gospel.

I like the imagery used of the hot iron branding their heads,

their nerve endings being disrupted such that they can't comprehend the truth.

They're not sensitive to the truth and they continue to rely and insist on the

lies that they have been propagating.

Paul reinforces that marriage and all foods are good things created by God to

be received with thanksgiving by those who believe believe, and know the truth.

For the Christian today, we understand that it is by faith that we have been saved.

It's not faith plus being circumcised. It's not faith plus abstaining from certain foods.

It's not faith plus certain actions on our behalf to make us more right with God.

We cannot add to and should not try to take away from the completed salvation

of Christ's work on on the cross.

So it's an important lesson to remember if we're ever tempted to think that

we need to do something to make ourselves more acceptable to God. We cannot.

It's all of Jesus. It's all about Jesus, and all glory should go to Jesus for our salvation.

But false teachers are alive and well today, I have no doubt about it.

They might not have the same false teaching as we saw in first century church.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, the Spirit clearly says that in later times,

some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and the things taught by demons.

Jesus himself also warns us to be aware of false teachers in Matthew 7.

He said, watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit, you will recognize them. false teachers

may look and sound harmless enough

even inviting but jesus says

inwardly their motives are anything but in

what they teach is wrong and is to be rejected thrown into the fire and disposed

of that's the what they teach ultimately they seek to lead us away from the

truth of christ and yet this begs the question doesn't it why does god allow false teachers,

Why does he allow them to prosper?

The answer is partly found in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 13.

Where God said that he used false prophets to test the faith of the people of

God, to see if they would remain faithful or be drawn away by other gods,

by the signs and wonders of false prophets.

Jeremiah said a similar thing in Jeremiah 14, where the king's prophets were

prophesying falsehoods in God's name, him, often to tell the king what he wanted to hear.

The apostle Paul calls this tickling the hearer's ear in 2 Timothy chapter 4,

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

telling the people false teaching or false prophecy, but what sounds good to

them and what they wanted to hear.

Jesus provides a similar warning about the coming end times in Matthew 24.

He says at that time, many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate

each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and

wonders, to deceive, if possible, even the elect, you and me.

Satan's ultimate goal is to lead people away from God, away from the salvation

in Christ to their own desires and pleasures, a sign of the end times.

So how do you determine if a person is a false teacher, even in today's society?

Well, there's a few things you might consider. Firstly, ask, who do they say Jesus is?

The Bible always says he is fully God and fully man, never anything less.

Secondly, ask, what do they say is the way to have a relationship with God?

Is it by God's saving grace through our faith? Or do they include some other action or mantra?

Is it Jesus plus something else?

And thirdly asked, what do they say is their authority? Is it the Bible alone

or is it some other teachings to supplement the Bible or some special revelation

or prophecy that that person has?

Some examples of false teachers you could remember is,

Paul says this about those who

use the teaching of godliness as a source of financial gain

for themselves their motive is their own

profit their own wealth and I

guess we've seen that with things like the tele-evangelists who are performing

to an audience for their own profit some today teach blatant heresy in contradiction

to God's word there are some prominent scholars and writers today who even deny

the virgin birth or even Jesus' resurrection.

Some claim to have received a special prophecy or an insight from God,

like Joseph Smith who claimed to have received the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni.

The Book of Jude tells us that false teachers will pervert the grace of God

into a form of sensuality and deny our Lord Jesus,

things that are persuasive to those who do not know the truth and do not test the truth.

You know, there's over 25 references in the New Testament and warnings concerning

false teachers, their methods and their motives.

It's more than we have time for this morning, but if you've got the time,

have a look at the books of 2 Timothy, the one that's after 1 Timothy,

the book of 2 Peter and Jew.

To me they're good references for you to just have a read through and see the

warnings that are given about false teachers and who they are and what they do.

2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3 has this warning.

2 Timothy 4:3

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number

of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an

evangelist, and discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Aware of people that we know who go to church, and they go to church because God is love.

And when they go to church, they only want to hear God is love.

If they have another minister who comes to present to them, it's presenting

things about judgment or the lifestyle or issues in their life.

They don't like it. They don't go to church on those days.

They're withdrawing themselves because they're not hearing what their itching

ears want to hear but Christians need to remain alert and steadfast we need

to test to see that what is being taught aligns with God's word,

that it is not a counterfeit teaching and for me that is where the joy and benefit

of the good minister that Paul talks about comes in where it is so beneficial

to have that person in church.

And I'd say we should hold on and listen to that man of God. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us warnings about those who

would be false teachers, who would bring false teaching into the church,

who would propagate that,

sometimes so that it is what our itching ears want to hear.

But Father, we ask that you would keep us listening to a good minister,

the minister who would train himself in godliness and be true to your word,

and that we would also test that, Father, ourselves,

that we would not just listen, but we would read for ourselves and study for

ourselves and understand what your word is saying for our lives.

We thank you, Father, that we can know what is truth and what is counterfeit. it.

We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen.