Describing the Deceivers

There is no such thing as interfaith dialogues, interfaith movements, interfaith discussions. That term presumes the existence and validity of some other faith. According to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5, there is only one Lord, one Spirit, one body, one baptism, and one faith. All others that presume to be faith are nothing but speculations and delusions.

Faith in Christ is the only faith. Have you ever listened to someone and come to the conclusion that the person was trying to deceive you? Maybe you've had a time when someone was trying to lure you into something that could have destroyed you or at least harmed you. Of course, it's bad when that happens.

But you know what's worse? When people seek to deceive and destroy you while claiming the name of Christ. This is wisdom for the heart. Today, Stephen Davey continues through his series from the book of Acts. We're going to learn how we can identify false teachers in the church.

This message is called describing the deceivers. Centuries before Paul arrived in Europe, hoping to overwhelm it with the gospel of Jesus Christ, Cyrus, the Persian king was attempting to conquer it for his own empire. The capital city of the Lydian empire lay in his way.

It was more than in his way. It was being the capital city, a place of affluence and commerce. It was strategically located at the base of a mountain, but it was in his way and he wanted to conquer this city that was the birthplace of modern money.

It was the first place to mint gold and silver and he wanted the treasure of the city for his own. But he had a problem. The Citadel, the fortress of Sardis was built on the rocky cliffs jutting out from the base of that mountain. And it seemed impenetrable. It was a difficult task to even consider as to how his soldiers would be able to overthrow the garrison by climbing those cliffs, climbing up over the walls of the battle men and thus conquering the soldiers first and then leading into the city.

And that didn't seem to be possible. So he did a rather clever thing. He sent a message to his troops promising that whatever soldier could come up with a way into the fortress, he would be rewarded handsomely. And that set all of his troops to thinking, but still they came up dry until one particular Martian soldier named Herodias. One afternoon was watching carefully one particular section of the battle men and he saw a soldier high up on the wall accidentally drop his helmet and it rolled as it were bouncing off that wall down the cliffs and into the valley below. And then to his amazement, he noticed that soldier climb over the wall and pick his way down select spots that had evidently been carved for footholds down the wall, down the cliffs. He retrieved his helmet and he went back up, back to work. That evening, Herodias with a select group of men went to the spot that he had marked in his memories. He watched that soldier and they climbed, finding those footholds up the cliffs, up the wall.

And once they got to the top and climbed over, they discovered to their shock and yet delight, the soldiers were either asleep or not even at their post. They had considered their city so strong that they weren't watching out, even though Cyrus and his vastly superior army was in the valley below. In a letter written to the church at Sardis in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ through his messenger John records words that would provoke the memory of these people to the history of their city as he tells the church on two occasions in that very brief letter to awaken, be awake, be alert, watch out.

To the Lydian soldiers there in Sardis, the message would have been wake up, Cyrus is in the valley and they would have responded up. He'll never get in here. To the believing church, Jesus Christ gives the same message, watch out, Satan is in the valley. Oh, not our church.

He'll never get in here. I find it interesting that that same word watch out, be awake is used in the New Testament for some of the most serious warnings. And that word appears at X 20 where we have been studying for some weeks. As Paul summarizes to the Ephesian elders in verse 31, be on the alert. Same word, watch out, wake up.

Why? Well, because as he's already told them in the previous verses, verse 29, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. So to the elders, Paul passionately warned them, watch out, stay away, be alert. The false teachers are coming from outside. Ultimately, they seek in that final point to find fault with the church and to create their own following.

Now that isn't bad enough. These wolves that are coming as predators to devour the church, that isn't enough of a warning. We are also told by means of his message to the elders to stay alert, to wake up, to watch out because verse 30 and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things, literally twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

You notice the end result is the same. They draw away disciples after them. The false teachers come from without and the false teachers arise from within and they have the same motive. That is to create their own following. They want to be considered the only true teacher. They want to be the source of knowledge and wisdom to their following the little group. And so they, like Satan before them, want to be as God.

They want to lead people after themselves. Well, how do you spot a deceiver who arises from within? Well, first of all, I want to tell you, they're a lot harder to spot than those from without. I mean, those from without, they deny the deity of Jesus Christ. That's real easy to spot. They deny the inspiration of scripture.

That's really easy to spot. You go down the cardinal doctrines. Those who arise within the church are a lot harder to spot. These deceivers are outwardly godly, yet inwardly corrupt. And I say that not so much to help you detect them, because you and I can never tell what a person is like on the inside, right? I merely say that first in this list to help you understand that just because someone sounds religious, just because someone uses the name of the Lord, just because someone seems godly, says all the right words, prays publicly lets you know that he fasts and all that, and that may be nothing more than part of his disguise.

It's possible to be all of those things outwardly and yet inwardly be an open sewer. Second, deceivers from within prey on vulnerable women who naively trust them. One of the marks of a false teachers, they are usually surrounded by women. Why do they lead them astray? Well, the text tells us in the next verse that these women, like the false teachers, are involved in secret sin. Notice verse six, for among them, that is among the false teachers, are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge that is the recognition of the truth.

This is an amazing passage. These women are always learning. They are signing up for every Bible study. They go to every conference. They read all the books.

They never miss a meeting. Yet because of their secret sins, the Bible tells us their impulses, whether it's materialism or covetousness or greed or lust or whatever it might be, because of that, they are never able, even though they are surrounded by the truth, to fully recognize the truth. And because they cannot recognize the truth, they are open prey to those who sound good, those who seem to display truth, but in fact are false teachers.

Third, the deceivers from within introduced destructive ideas. It looks, because they've associated it with a kernel of truth, to be the truth. And yet when it stands alone, it's obviously identified as error. And one of the interesting things to note about those then that bring error alongside of truth is that they will use then the same vocabulary that you use, but they will be using a different dictionary.

You with me? They will talk about salvation, but it will not be by faith alone in Christ. It will be faith plus a list of things. They will talk about heaven, but they may not really believe it's a literal place. It may be something that you create or that they may not believe in a literal hell. When they use the word hell, they're talking about hell on earth. They may talk about faith in God, but they're talking about a different God. They are using the same vocabulary, but they are using a different dictionary. How many of you have noticed probably in the last couple of years, secular society, blatantly unbelieving in Christ have begun to use the word spiritual?

That really bothers me. I hear somebody use the word spiritual, and that's one of those good terms, but it's coming to where it doesn't mean a hill of beans. I was watching an interview recently with the woman who wrote the book, bestselling book, A Course in Miracles, which has been Sunday school material in many liberal churches. She used the word as she spoke to this vast audience, spiritual, over and over again. She talked about God. She talked about the need for repentance. She talked about national sin. She used all the terminology.

If you listen long enough through the interviews, I tried to hang on. She also talked about yoga and spiritual Eastern religious experiences as being equal to the things that we hold true from the scripture. She was using vocabulary that we would use, but she really had different definitions. According to the book of Ephesians, I want you to know that those who haven't placed their faith in Christ is the only true way to God. He himself said in John 14 that nobody, not anyone, comes to the Father except through me.

Those who have denied his sovereignty in this matter of salvation have not placed their faith in him. The Bible calls them spiritually dead. That is, they have never had their spirit come to life. They are spiritually dead. A dead person does not experience anything.

They don't respond to stimuli. A corpse cannot. So while they talk about their spirits, the Bible says their spirit is dead until Ephesians 2 says it is brought to life in Christ Jesus.

Until then, there's no such thing as a spiritual experience. False teachers within the church, within organized religion, compromised the truth then. They secretly introduced destructive heresies. That is, they bring truth alongside or error alongside of truth until finally they replace the truth with that error that they hold to. I read this past week of the United Methodist denomination beginning formal discussions and dialogue with the Mormon Church. They want to discuss their differences and perhaps in the spirit of ecumenism arrive at some mutually acceptable compromises.

The only compromise that will be affected in that dialogue is illustrated I think best by this little story that I've read and filed away. It's the tale of a man who got caught in a snowstorm in the woods. He's freezing from the cold and he wandered about for hours until he found a cave. In the cave he stumbled over and awakened a big grizzly bear. The big bear looked at him and said, you're just what I've been dreaming of.

I'm so hungry. The man said, well, you might be hungry, Mr. Bear, but I don't have a warm coat and I'm freezing. What do you say we sit down and work out a compromise that will give us both what we want? The bear agreed and swallowed the man whole. The bear said as he dozed back off to sleep, ah, sweet compromise.

I got my meal and he got his warm coat. There is no such thing as interfaith dialogues, interfaith movements, interfaith discussions. That term presumes the existence and validity of some other faith. According to Ephesians chapter four, verse five, there was only one Lord, one spirit, one body, one baptism and one what? One faith. There is only one faith. All others that presume to be faith are nothing but speculations and delusions.

Faith in Christ is the only faith. Fourth, false teachers display lifestyles that are given over to the flesh. In other words, they've been so involved in this and at first it has been private and hidden.

They reach the point where something clicks, something turns. They ultimately apostatize and they don't care who sees their sin and they are like the people of Israel that Jeremiah said, you have forgotten how to even blush. And so these men in their latter days eventually are exposed and publicly live out their immorality.

Fifth, they are ultimately motivated by greed. You are a client with money. They will sell you the product.

And as long as you buy the product, then you will be in. That leads me to the final characteristic of these deceiver six. The results of their ministry is not edification, but extortion. I don't know how many times I've seen some preacher on television or on the radio heard him on the radio telling his audience that they send in this gift of money. God will bless them financially. If they send in their handkerchief with their little gift, that'll be prayed over and sent back and that will guarantee God's anointing, blessing, healing, prosperity, whatever.

The problem is they have subtly attached your money to their power. They have without coming out and saying it suggested that you can buy God's anointing. You can buy God's blessing. You can buy God's healing. There's an ancient Hebrew word for that.

It's pronounced baloney. Peter writes in verse three and their greed, they will exploit you with false words. But I want you to know, Peter says, their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.

Church, wake up. These men will arise from within who will merchandise you. They will profit from you.

They will eventually reach in and gain all they can, whether personally or institutionally. The practice of selling the grace of God, by the way, is not new. In fact, it is the foundation from which our reformation began. The final straw in the life of a priest named Martin Luther was the fact that the Roman Church was selling forgiveness of sins in the form of papers called indulgences.

He had had enough. I received a card a few months ago from a Catholic priest card informed me that someone in his church had purchased a certain amount of prayers on behalf of a family member in our church whose relative had died. And that money was now converted into this card, which informed me that so many candles would be lit and so many prayers would be set on his behalf so that ultimately this person would spend less time in purgatory.

In other words, somebody gave some money to a church who then converts it into candles and prayers so that somebody can get into heaven a little quicker. Ladies and gentlemen, the grace of God is free. The forgiveness of sin is free. Heaven is free. This is nothing less, in my opinion, and I can back it up with a lot of scripture than extortion at its lowest form. Wake up.

Well, let me give you some thoughts by way of application. How can we be preserved and protected from these spiritual predators? Well, number one, be critical of those who would become your spiritual advisors or your teachers.

They are not all authentic. And some of the things that we've studied over these last three weeks, I hope will trigger your memory and your thinking. Do they claim special power over the demonic world? Peter and Jude both referenced that and we've seen that. Do they expound the scriptures or do they simply expound their vision from God? Are they accountable to a body of elders and a body of believers?

Do they promote fleshly materialistic pursuits and that somehow if you do this, this, this and this, God will give that to you? Or do they tell you that to follow Christ means to deny yourself, to expect nothing from him, but to give all of yourself to him? Jesus Christ warned his disciples in Matthew chapter seven, the false teachers would come in sheep's clothing. They will be judged on that day. He said, when all the nations, all the people will stand before him and they will be in the company of the unredeemed. These false teachers who have risen from within the church and these false teachers will say to him, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not perform miracles in your name, in the name of Jesus? And he will look at them and say to them, I never knew you. To me, the startling thing is that he never says to them, those weren't miracles. You didn't exercise any demons. You didn't perform any wonders or signs.

He simply says, assuming that they indeed had, I never knew you. And they will be revealed on that day as having done all that they had done, even though in the name of Jesus Christ to only build their following and glorify their own name. Number two, be a student of the New Testament and its doctrine. Paul wrote study to show yourselves approved unto God workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing, rightly interpreting the word of truth. Diligent study combined with a desire to please and submit yourself to God are the parents of accuracy in interpreting scripture.

Now I've given you a little test and I've specifically written down questions that have and continue to spark a lot of debate out there in the community. And I don't want you to be satisfied until you find out the answers and the verse that accompanies the answer. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, do you know that you can back that up from scripture and the verse is the Bible completed revelation or is God still giving visions and dreams?

How do we know the guy saying I just had a vision in telling the truth? How is a person saved? We are living by the way, in an era that is redefining the definition of salvation. Do you know the verse of scripture or verses that back up what you believe? What is the next prophetic event to occur in in in God's redemptive history? What is the church waiting for?

Do you know from scripture? And I don't want you to be satisfied until you this. I hope this troubles you.

You know, I hope, as I've said before, my job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I hope this afflicts you and you go home and you put this down and then you come back to it. And then you may need to go to the bookstore. You have your Bible. Maybe you need to study by something with some some notes in it, some concordance in the back. And you just start looking up verses.

Maybe you need a good comment. They're usually in the bookstore in the back under dust. You have to work your way through the mince with crosses on them and the key chains that sing Jesus loves me to you and all the all the calendars that tell you how happy God wants you to be today. Kind of work your way all through that stuff and go back to the corner where these books are collecting dust. That is not an indictment, by the way, on the Christian bookstore industry.

I depend on them. It is an indictment on the appetite of the average Christian today. I was talking to a Christian journalist some time ago on the subject of writing short books that expound biblical truth. And he told me, said, Stephen, if you will, if you ever plan to market them to the Christian community, don't put anything on the cover that says anything about the fact that it might include expounding scripture.

Nobody will buy it. And that in one brief sentence ended my writing career. One more. Be aware that discernment and insight are developed when it comes to the subject of spiritual discernment and insight and wisdom. One of the one of the biggest shocks in my young Christian life was to discover from the word that wisdom and insight and discernment are not automatic. When you become a Christian, God doesn't give you a big box marked discernment, wisdom and insight and and and say to you, look here, here it is. It's all yours.

Any time you want it, just open it up. The truth is, those things are developed as you study the word and submit to the author of the word. I want you to close your Bibles and just let me read some of the prayers of Paul for the church. This was his heart for them.

This is my heart for you. And I want you to notice how he's praying that they gain things. They're already believers. But listen, for this reason, also, Paul writes, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesians, chapter one, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. And in Philippians one nine to me, one of the most interesting moving prayers he says, I'm praying that you may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent.

In other words, you'll be able to discern that which is good and that which is better. The things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Discernment and knowledge and insight are the fruit of the study of the word and the application of the word to your life. You go to the word and you handle the truth. You submerge yourself in the truth. You study the truth and you're able then to spot the lie. I hope this time in God's word has better equipped you to identify and then avoid those who would seek to deceive you by their false teaching. This is wisdom for the heart. Stephen is calling this message describing the deceivers.

It's part of our vintage wisdom series from the book of Acts. Please take a few moments and drop us a note. Our mailing address is Wisdom for the Heart, PO Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. And by the way, please consider including a gift when you write. Stephen often reminds us that our ministry is empowered by your prayer and enabled by your support. Your partnership is vital to us and we're thankful for it. You can also write to us at info at wisdomonline.org or call us at 866-48-bible. For Stephen and all of us here, thanks for listening. Come back next time for more wisdom for the heart.