How Should Christians Call Out False Teachers?

How should Christians call out false teachers? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you and our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so.

So jump on the phone right now. Here's the phone number. 1-833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media websites and you can email us anytime at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Dee in Nashville, Tennessee. Dee, what's your question for Adriel?

Hello gentlemen. I've been studying 1 John 3 and 5, specifically the references to the idea that the person born of God does not sin or cannot sin. And as you know, there's many interpretations and there's two in particular that I thought seemed feasible or strong and I wanted to get your opinion on the pros and cons of both of these. One being that it's making a distinction between the flesh which does sin and the seed of God within us or the Spirit of God which cannot sin. And the other being the idea that it's talking about a very specific sin, the sin unto death, and not sin in any general sense. I wanted to see if you thought either of those interpretations was the correct one or if there's some other one that you think is better.

Hey Dee, thank you for that question. So one of the issues with 1 John is just the context as we approach this book. It's important for us to understand that the audience, the original audience, there had recently been some kind of a split or schism in the church. There were a group of people that were there that had left, abandoned the faith. And it seems like they're characterized by, as some people say, it's a sort of low view of the flesh and also a low view of sin, God's law. Sometimes this is called antinomianism, a rejection of God's law because it seemed like some of them were saying, well, sin is not that big of a deal.

We don't have sin anymore. And of course, that's part of why John gets into the discussion that he gets into in chapter 1. And so that helps, I think, to inform, as we're looking at these passages, that helps to inform the right interpretation. Now with regard to the second interpretation that you mentioned where there's a specific sin being mentioned, the sin unto death, I think that that has some feasibility to it because of chapter 5 specifically where John gets into the sin unto death. But at least for my part, as I've studied the book of 1 John and preached through 1 John actually right in the middle of the pandemic a couple of years ago, when things were really just sort of heated, preached through 1 John. And the way I understand this, this idea of the one who is born of God not sinning, it certainly doesn't mean that we are sinless, this idea of sinless perfectionism.

And again, I think that's one of the things that John rebukes early on. He's just saying, look, sort of going off of what Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits. There is a life that's characterized by the rejection of the gospel and the abandonment of God's law, which seems like the group that had left the church was embracing. And then there is the life of the children of God, those who were born of the Spirit. And we know that we're not sinless, but there is this battle that we enter into within.

There's this real struggle that we experience. And so I think that the idea of continuing in sin, I think it has to do with that group that had left. In chapter 2 verse 19, he says, They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge.

I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. And so you had this group that was denying Christ, rejecting the law of God, and abandoning the church. And that is, I think, what John is addressing when he talks about, hey, the one who's born of God doesn't continue in sin like this. They're not apostatizing, abandoning the church. And so a lot of people have read those verses and thought to themselves, oh boy, I still struggle with sin.

I must not be born of God. But that's why we really have to understand the context. I wouldn't see the first interpretation that you mentioned.

I think of those two interpretations, I think there's more value to or more, I see more strength in the second one. I wouldn't see it as this distinction between my flesh, which is sinning, but my spirit, which is not sinning, compartmentalizing the flesh and spirit there. I don't think that that at all is what John is doing. In fact, the false teachers that John, I think, is addressing in 1 John had this sort of dichotomy where they were separating flesh and spirit, low view of the body, low view of creation. And so there are some people who say this is sort of the beginning of what John is addressing here is the beginning of the heresy that came to be known as Gnosticism, which really minimized creation, saw the body as evil and the spirit as good. And we're going to be released from our bodies one day by the spirit. And so I wouldn't see that as being a legitimate interpretation, especially considering what it is that John is combating here and what was plaguing the church at that time.

And so I appreciate your question, Dee, and thank you for calling in. You know, Adriel, when I was a teenager, I was involved in a denomination that held that philosophy, held that theology, that once a person was filled with the Holy Spirit, they could no longer volitionally sin. And I can tell you as a teen who certainly struggled with sin at 16 years of age, that really set me up for a lot of guilt and failure. Yeah, I mean, it really is heartbreaking because I've seen it, you know, the pendulum swings when you have these really legalistic approaches to the Christian faith.

And people are loaded down with this idea of sanctification or the law or the Christian life that just isn't biblical, where it's like, hey, if you're a real Christian, you're not going to struggle with sin or you'll be able to not sin anymore, right? Well, then immediately, you know, how long does it take? One hour, two hours before you realize, boy, I must not be a real Christian because of the thoughts. Ten minutes. Yeah, ten minutes, there you go.

Not long at all. And then what ends up happening so often in these churches is that the pendulum just swings the other way. And people say, well, if I just can't, if I can't do it at all, then I'm just going to, you know, if I'm going to crash and burn, might as well go down with style kind of a thing. And so that's why we really need to have a right understanding of the grace of God, a right understanding of the law and our relationship to the law as Christians. One of the things I've noticed doing this broadcast now for years is there's so much confusion out there about the law of God. And there's just as much confusion, if not more, about the gospel. And so it's really important that we address these issues.

And really, well said. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we'd love to receive your questions about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, you name it. We are open to it. Here's the phone number and we'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so at 833-843-2673. You can spell it out on your phone, 833THECORE, 833THECORE. And of course, you can leave us a voicemail at that same number 24 hours a day. Well, believe it or not, this Thursday, June 30th, Core Christianity will be airing its 1000th episode. And to celebrate, we are offering a special giveaway package.

Yeah. We are honestly so excited about this, Bill. And I just want to say on the air, thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us, for your faithfulness to us. And thank you to all of you who have listened to the broadcast and continue to support us.

We're really stoked about this 1000th episode. And so mark your calendars because on Thursday, we're going to be announcing the winner of a giveaway that we're doing. Three listeners are going to receive a gift package that includes three of our latest Bible studies on Ruth, on the parables and also on the Book of Philippians, a brand new coffee mug that we recently designed.

I'm drinking out of it right now here in the studio, as well as some local San Diego coffee here, and a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones so that way you can listen to the broadcast just with clarity and no interruption or distractions. So if you want to enter to win these items, you can still enter. You go to corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway. And so make sure you do that and make sure you tune in on Thursday for our 1000th episode where we're going to be announcing the winners. We are really excited about this. So please go to corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway and sign up.

Do that today. corechristianity.com forward slash giveaway and get involved in our contest. Well, we do receive voicemails here at Core Christianity, and here's one we received from one of our listeners named Adam. My question is, we see a lot of false teaching that goes around within our community and even in Christian life also. But what if the false teaching is being promoted by a church itself? Because I see a lot of false teaching that revolves around prophecy. Somebody who prophesied something is going to happen at a certain date and time. And when we look into the fruits of that so-called prophet, we see a lot of false prophecy that never came true. And we see so many of them kind of delude other believers into believing in them. Is there something that we can do beyond praying?

If a church itself is being corrupted and they're going into the path of false teaching, how do we combat with those people and their beliefs so that we can pray for them to turn back from their evil ways? Thank you. Mm-hmm.

Well, the first thing I'll say is just this. Jesus is against the false teachers. He's the one who wages war on them with the sword that proceeds from his mouth. I just preached on this this past week in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, where Jesus is addressing the church in Pergamum. He says to the angel of the church in Pergamum, right, the words of him who has a sharp two-edged sword.

And when he begins to address some of the issues that he had there in Pergamum, he says, I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, here's what Jesus says to churches that are embracing false teaching. For us, when we embrace, he says, Therefore, repent.

If not, I will come to you soon in war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. As I prepare to preach on Jesus' letter to the church there in Thyatira, he says again to them, I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. See, Jesus takes the purity of his church very seriously. And false teaching, false teachers, have always been a problem. This is something that Jesus warned us against. I think of Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, where he says, Look, don't forget, brothers, that for a period of three years, I did not cease to warn you night and day with tears in my eyes, saying that soon savage wolves are going to come in not sparing the flock. We, brothers and sisters, as Christians, need to take doctrine seriously. We need to take the truth seriously. We need to take the word of God seriously. And when there is false teaching in the church, just like if Jesus is addressing the church of Pergamum there, or the church in Thyatira, the church is called to repentance. And if we're in churches where this is happening, then we're called to get in churches where we're not going to be led astray, or the truth of God's word is not being compromised.

Now, again, this is different than, you know, I disagree with the programs in my church, or, you know, I don't know, we don't all get along politically or whatever. No, we're talking about real false teaching, going against the word of God. And in those situations, you need to find another church. And when it comes to false teachers, we call them to repentance. We preach the truth of God's word.

And we warn them, because it is this, it's a terrifying thing when you think about it. I mean, this is why James said in James chapter 3, verse 1, Let not many of you become teachers, brothers, knowing that we'll receive a stricter judgment. Man, what we're preaching, what we're teaching is so important, because faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

And so if we're not getting the word of Christ, if churches aren't proclaiming the truth of God's word, we aren't, within the church, being built up as the body of Christ. And so Jesus takes us very seriously, and we need to take it very seriously. And I think, as you asked, you know, one of the things we can do is pray. Another thing that we can do to make sure that we're taking it seriously is be Berean. Study the scriptures, know what you believe, know why you believe the things that you believe, so that when you hear something that's out there, that's not in line with the faith once for all delivered to the saints, you'll be able to discern and sift through the nonsense if ever you hear it. And, you know, pray, you know, for the peace and the purity of the church. And there are times, I think, with certain false teachers who are leading many people astray that we do need to just confront it, certainly, and address it, even as Jesus does there in Revelation chapter 2, where he says, you know, you're tolerating that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess. What she's really doing is leading people astray.

Don't tolerate that anymore. Brothers and sisters, don't tolerate false teaching. Cling to the truth, cling to the gospel, and may God help us all to do that.

Wow, that is some really good counsel, Adriel, and I'm sure there are many people listening right now who know of situations like that. They have friends, brothers and sisters in Christ who are attending churches with some of these false beliefs, and they've been hesitant to say anything. They've kind of been reluctant because they don't want to rock the boat. But, as you said very clearly, Jesus' sword is coming forth, and we need to be bold, right?

We do need to be bold. And, I mean, what we're talking about here, why does he use such strong words? Well, because we're talking about his bride. He cares about his bride. He cares that we care about the bride, right? And so, I mean, some people, they could see this, and I think there's just such a low view of the church in so many today where they just think, boy, those words are really strong, but, hey, you're talking about the bride of Christ. You're trying to lead the bride of Christ astray, and Jesus will never put up with that, and we should never put up with that either.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We're still taking your calls.

Questions about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, or theology. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THECORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We do receive voicemails, and you can leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day.

We try to review our voicemails each day, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Barb in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Pastor Adriel, I have a question for you. Do all born-again believers tremble at God's Word?

The reason why I'm asking is because I've spoke to a couple people before, and they don't tremble, or they say they do once in a while, but they don't all the time. I'm born again. I could be praying. I could be just listening, and I tremble at God's Word all the time. Thank you.

Bye-bye. We all should tremble at the Word of God. Now, of course, we don't tremble at everything in the Word of God. Certainly, when we hear the law, what God calls us to, even those descriptions of God in His majesty, I think that they do and ought to create in us this sense of awe, this sense of trembling, this sense of fear. We read Scripture, and we see those individuals who had a vision of the Lord, whether it was Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 or John in Revelation chapter 1. They are full of trembling.

They're full of terror because they're in the presence of the Holy One. Now, I'm sure you're familiar with what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 66, what God said through the prophet Isaiah. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. God's eyes are on those who take his word seriously, who tremble at the warnings in Scripture, who rejoice in the promises of the Gospel that we receive in Scripture. And so I would say, I mean, in answer to your question, I think that we all should, must take the word of God very seriously, but to be honest with you, there are times in the Christian life where our hearts grow dull, where we read Scripture, we read even the warnings, and they don't seem to be registering. We read the promises of the Gospel, and we're so distracted by so many other things, we're not able to bask in the joy and the hope that we have in Christ.

And so in situations like that, I don't think that that would mean that you're not born again or that you've lost your justification or something like that. No, we humble ourselves and we say, God, I know that I don't tremble at your word like I should. Help me, Lord.

Have mercy upon me. And so we're continually pursuing the Lord. And so I would say, praise God, when you read Scripture and you come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and you tremble, and obviously we're not just meant to be left there in that state of trembling.

We need the comfort of the Gospel, the comfort of the forgiveness of sin. So we go from that fear to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen One. Do not be afraid. Fear not.

I am the one who conquered sin and death and hell. And so we need to take all of those things very seriously and when we don't. And friends, let's be honest. There are many times where we don't, where we just neglect the promises, the warnings. When we don't, God says, no, take them up and humble yourselves before me and pray, pray. We all ought to pray as we open up the Scriptures that God would help us to receive the word rightly with humility, with faith, with hope, with love and with trembling. And we know, again, Isaiah 66 too, we know that God looks on the humble, on those who take His word seriously. And so this is something that we should all strive after as the children of God. And I thank the Lord that you take His word seriously.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, our 1000th episode is coming up this Thursday, and we have a special giveaway to celebrate. We're giving three listeners a gift package, including our three latest Bible studies on Ruth, parables and Philippians, a brand new coffee mug with Core Christianity's logo on it, a bag of San Diego's finest coffee to go with the mug, and a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones. We would love to have you win that, and all you have to do is go to our website to sign up for this giveaway, and that's at CoreChristianity.com forward slash giveaway.

Let's go to John calling in from Missouri. John, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I teach Bible in a jail that houses federal prisoners, and last night in my study that I had put together, it had the verse 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 4. I always assumed that the demons on earth were the ones that were cast out, the angels that were cast out with Satan, but according to this scripture, they're locked up until the day of judgment. So who are the demons that are on earth helping Satan give us havoc? Hey, John, thank you for that question, and thank you for the ministry that you do to the church in prison, in jail there.

May the Lord bless you, and may the Lord work in the hearts of those that you're ministering to. And so with regard to what Peter says in 2 Peter, there's also a parallel text in Jude chapter 1. I think here it's talking about a very specific group of angels, not just all angels in general. It says, For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, I think it's the angels associated with the deception in the times of Noah.

He begins to talk about Noah right after that, and then in Jude verse 6 it says, The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the day of judgment. So we know that the evil one is very active in the world today. We know that there are, we don't know how many, but we know that there are countless, it seems, evil wicked angels that are under the judgment of God. I do believe that right now on the basis of Revelation 20 that Satan, the evil one, is limited in his abilities, bound, if you will, so that the gospel can continue to go out and will continue to go out until the end of the age, but there's no contradiction here. It's not like these angels are locked up and now there are no more fallen angels that are engaging in the affairs of man.

No, we have to be watchful because the evil one does go about like a roaring lion, as Peter said, seeking to devour the people of God, but we trust in Jesus. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.