874. How to Spot a False Teacher

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University, is continuing a study series entitled Truth and Love, which is a study of the book of 1 John.

There's a study booklet available that Dr. Pettit has written for this series. If you would like to follow along, you can order a printed copy from the website thedailyplatform.com. Let's listen to today's message from 1 John 4, 1 through 6.

The title of the message is how to spot a false teacher. Please take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to 1 John chapter 4. I'd like us to continue our study and our theme this semester of truth and love. I actually kind of hesitated this morning to give the message because we just finished a long week. Probably some of you right now are sort of borderline brain dead and you know you have a long weekend.

Yesterday I was in Hartford, Connecticut in the morning in Boston, Massachusetts and got home last night really, really late and so we're probably all in the same boat. However, on the other hand, we have a limited amount of time and I really want to get us back on track with our study of truth and love and so I'd like to plow forward in that this morning. If you're taking notes, I'd encourage you to do that as we look at our second message that we really have started with in the idea of dealing with truth and especially in the idea of discerning false teachers. I'd like us to read this morning beginning in verse 1 and we're going to read down to verse 6. It says, beloved, believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know you the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.

He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Spies, intrigue, deceit, undercover, double agents, espionage. These are all words that make for a really exciting movie. They also are words that speak of a shocking reality.

For example, it is estimated today that there are more spies living in Washington DC than ever before in human history and we know that their impact can be devastating. In 1st John the author is addressing the reality of false teachers who come into the church secretly and deceitfully to corrupt and to devastate God's people. Therefore out of a concern John seeks to expose the false teachers of his day. Look at verse 1. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world and then notice the beginning of verse 2 he says hereby or literally here's how you know one. My message this morning is entitled how do you spot a false teacher and John actually tells us here in verses 2 through 6. John uses a specific writing technique when he writes these verses and you can find it in other verses in 1st John and we'll simply call the technique bookends because the bookends are like the beginning and the ending of the of the idea and they say the same thing. For example look at verse 2 at the very beginning he says hereby know ye the Spirit of God that's one bookend.

The other bookend is at the end of verse 6 when it says hereby know we the spirit of error and the spirit of truth that's the other bookend. So he's saying here's how you know this. He starts it out this way he ends it this way and everything in between is the explanation of how you know the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of error. And John presents to us two all-inclusive comprehensive tests as how we can discern those who are true and those who are false.

So what are those two tests? Here they are number one the first test is what is the teacher or the preacher saying about Jesus Christ. Every spirit the Bible says that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

So what's he saying? A true teacher verbally outwardly expresses his inward faith by an open and forthright declaration of the truth. He confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh but then notice if he does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh then we can say it conclusively he is not from God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.

So we could say it this way it's a very black and white matter. So the question is what then is the meaning of the phrase Jesus Christ is come in the flesh? Well it means a few things.

First of all it means that Jesus Christ came into the world as was eternally planned by God. It's like planning a big event with a special invited guest. I mean let's look at last week Bible Conference.

We didn't whip all that out the week before. We've been planning on that for a year. And so everything that went with it in all the promotion and all the material it was a very planned event.

A data set. Invitations are sent out. So here's what we know in the scripture. Jesus is coming was the fulfillment of an eternally planned event. And we know this because the entire Old Testament was written to explain this a planned event. We have a series in the Old Testament of promises, prophecies, pictures, people who picture this coming event, foretelling of a special one, a chosen one, a Messiah who's going to come as planned. And then when we come to the New Testament John the Baptist was called the announcer of Jesus is coming. He said prepare you the way of the Lord that is get ready for the one who is coming according to God's plan.

Paul said something similar Galatians 4 for but when the fullness of time was come God sent for this son made of a woman. So Jesus is coming in the flesh means that he came into the world as was planned. But it also means this that when Jesus Christ came Jesus Christ coming in the world means that he became something if I could say this way different from what he was before. Jesus's coming in the world was a union with what Jesus was before he was born that is his pre-existing state with what he became in his birth as a human being. In other words the whole idea of Jesus coming in the flesh means that Jesus pre-existed before he existed as a human being.

And where do we find this? John 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and then we go to John 1 14 it says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That is the pre-existing word who was God became a man by the means of an incarnation or becoming a human being.

This is precisely what Isaiah prophesied when he said in Isaiah 7 14 therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us. So when we speak about Jesus Christ coming in the flesh we're speaking about the union of the divine 100% God with a human who is 100% man. But then there's something else in the idea that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that is it means that Jesus coming in the flesh means that he is still a human being. When John says that he has come look at verse verse verse 2 it says every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh that were that phrase is come or that verb is in the perfect tense.

Now what does that mean? It refers to something that took place in the past that has continuing results today. In other words Jesus Christ came at a point in time in human history he was born in that time but he continues to live today. And what he's writing here is on the present state of Jesus Christ. He came in the flesh and he's still in the flesh. Do you realize that Jesus is still alive? Jesus was born as a man, lived as a man, died as a man, rose from the dead as a man, ascended into heaven as a man, and is seated at the right hand of the Father and he's still a human. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And he is ever living to pray for us. The reason why you and I could be saved is that we can call upon the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father who is 100% God and 100% man. So when we talk about Jesus coming in the flesh this is what we're talking about.

Now here's the point. The point is that every true teacher is going to teach and confess these things and what he is doing is he's describing both the content and the intent of a true preacher and teacher in contrast to a false teacher. For example when he says con when I say content I'm speaking of the substance of his message. What does he preach about? Does he preach about the incarnation and the virgin birth of Jesus? Does he preach about his sinless perfect life? Does he preach about his bloody sacrificial atoning death on the cross? Does he speak about his victorious resurrection from the grave?

Does he talk about the fact that he is our perfect high priest in heaven who is saving those who come to him? This confession of what we're saying is not a side issue. It's a main issue. It's the heart.

It's the core. It's the guts of biblical truth and discerning truth from error. You must listen to what the teacher is saying about Jesus. For example contrast this with the Jewish claim that the human Jesus was not the promised Messiah. The Islamic claim that Jesus is just a prophet but he's not God. The Jehovah's Witness claim that Jesus is Michael the highest Archangel in human form and not the Son of God. The Mormon claim that Jesus and Satan were spirit brothers and both were sons of God.

The Catholic claim that Mary is a mediator and co-redeemer with Jesus. When we confess that Jesus has come in the flesh we are acknowledging the union of the divine and human in the person of Jesus Christ and this is the this is the content this is the substance of our message. But let me also say that not only is this the content but this is the intent. That is it's not only the substance of what we preach it's the focus of what we preach. You see when you discern truth from error you have to not only listen to what what a preacher is actually saying about Jesus but you have to listen to what he's emphasizing. The question is is this the core message that's being constantly proclaimed and here's the point I want to make. A false teacher may not deny the truths about Jesus Christ but in a more subtle and dangerous way he de-emphasizes or he neglects these truths or he marginalize them or he relegates them to a second secondary level of importance.

It's not the heart and core. It's not the message that he's constantly proclaiming. It's almost as if these things rarely come up.

Let me give you an illustration of today right now. One of the pastors in the United States who pastors one of the biggest mega churches in the United States said just recently in a sermon that had to do with the birth of Christ he said these words I want you to listen carefully. He said one of the challenging things about the Christmas season and one of the challenging things about the Christmas story is in fact the Christmas story. The Christmas story as it relates to the birth of Jesus because there is so much miraculous.

There is so much amazing. There's so much that's really unbelievable about it and a whole lot of people just don't believe and I understand that. Maybe the thought is that they had to come up with some myth about the birth of Jesus to give him street cred later on. It is interesting because Matthew gives us a version of the birth of Jesus. Luke does but Mark and John don't even mention it and a lot has been made of that. You have heard me say in some version of this a million times but if somebody can predict their own death and resurrection I'm not all that concerned about how they got into the world because the whole rather resurrection thing is so amazing and in fact you should know this. Christianity does not hinge on the truth or even the stories about the birth of Jesus.

It really hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. Okay that's so bad. If you're sitting here and you don't get it you need to listen real carefully. That's so bad.

Here's what happened. I decided to listen to the whole sermon so I get it all in context. So I laid in my bed late at night downloaded the sermon and listened to the whole thing and I said that's really bad. First of all do you know Jesus is not the only person that's resurrected from the dead? Jesus raised three people from the dead himself.

Lazarus the widow of Nain's son and Jairus' daughter. Elijah resurrected somebody from the dead you remember that? Elisha resurrected from the somebody from the dead by his own bones. I mean literally there was a funeral going on and some Jewish guys got nervous because they saw some of the enemy and they basically dumped the body in a tomb and the body landed on Elisha's bones and he came back alive.

I often wonder what do the other guys do when they saw the guy coming out of the grave? Obviously one of the core doctrines of the Christian faith is the resurrection of the of Jesus from the dead but folks if we didn't have a virgin-born Savior then we didn't have a perfect sacrifice who died on the cross for our sins and so we could never have hope that our sins are forgiven because we have to have a perfect sacrifice. What kind of alarm should this trigger in our thinking? Can we be sloppy with doctrine?

Really? John bluntly warns about teachers that are being energized by a different spirit. Verse 3, every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come the flesh is not of God this is the spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world. John hears warning about a hostile opposer of the truth who's the opposite of Jesus who is called Antichrist. The Antichrist is a literal figure just like Jesus was who is coming as is prophesied in the scripture. This was a part of the regular teaching of the early church but the Antichrist as a person has not yet come. That's futuristic. That's coming but the spirit of the Antichrist is influential in the world today through false teachers.

It says that even now already is it in the world. Now folks this is a warning of huge proportions. You should have hearts and minds and ears that are keen to the truth so that you can discern this. If I sit in services week after week after week after week and the core doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ are not being preached and I've got to ask myself what's up? So number one we discern what are they saying but then number two in verse five the second test of a false teacher is who is listening to them. Notice verse five it says they that is the false prophets are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. John's second test is this what crowd does the prophet the false teacher attract?

In other words who's listening to whom? Now it's very obvious that John is a true apostle. I mean we know that and John's message appeals to those who are born again who have the new life of God within their own hearts therefore they're spiritually drawn to and they're satisfied with the pure word in Christ-centered doctrine. We can all say we all understand that if you're a born-again person and you hear the truth of Christ it rings in your heart like a bell.

God has given you his spirit so that you can understand that. So John's message attracts those who are redeemed however the world is attracted to a different kind of message so what is their message? Well John declares that a false teacher derives his message from the world that is the teaching of a false prophet finds its origin in the philosophy and the language of the contemporary world. Now this to me is interesting this wasn't written yesterday this was written 2,000 years ago. The message of the false teacher is formulated and manipulated to fit the world's way of thinking.

You could say it's modernized. Probably 90 years ago when we had a rise of liberalism in the United States of America within mainline denominations we called people liberals but we also called them modernists because a modernist would have a sense of doctrinal truth but he was so modernized and shape his message it's not like listening to John preach and it doesn't mean that spiritual truth is never included but the message is crafted in such a way that it is not directed towards the glory of God but it is more directed towards the selfish interest of fallen man. To the careful listener it becomes clear that the message is not intended to expose the depravity of human nature or to slay the pride and self-righteousness of men.

Jesus is not exalted as the Lamb of God who suffered a bloody death penalty to atone for our sins. Absent from the sermons are things like you have to be born again or you have to repent and if you don't you'll perish. You just don't hear those kind of sermons. Instead the message appeals to their own selfish appetites. It allows people to live comfortably in their sin.

I remember years ago as a young evangelist I was preaching a small town and I went into a little local store to buy some some goods and a guy asked me he stopped me he said what are you doing he said I said I'm preaching at this church over here and so we had a little conversation he said well I go to this church over here but he said they don't preach without other church is preaching over there. I said sir do you know what I've learned I said everybody's looking for a religion where they can believe in God and live in their sin. Let's be honest everybody wants to go to heaven nobody wants to go to hell but everybody wants to live in their sin.

Why don't we get honest about it? But Bible Christianity came into the world to slay sin by the sacrifice of his of God's Son. When you be when you become a born-again Christian there's a transformation of your heart and so what happens is the false teacher twists and distorts the gospel in such a way that people are not hearing the true message at all. FF Bruce said there's no form of worldliness so hostile and harmful to Christianity as a kind of restatement of the gospel. So why is the world attracted to this kind of ministry?

Because it speaks their language. Verse 5 John says they are the world therefore speak they of the world and the world hears them. Oftentimes these kind of ministries will actually grow and expand because the teacher has a powerful influence over the minds of those that listen to him.

However their success may be measured by a visible worldly standard but it's not really measured by a biblical standard. That doesn't mean that the gospel doesn't draw large crowds. In times of revival many people are brought to personal faith in Christ through the preaching of the cross and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. However this kind of ministry is not likely to find that kind of popularity in the contemporary world as the false teachers receive.

So in light of this what does John do? He encourages true believers by saying that they've actually overcome the world. Ye are of God little children and have overcome them. Who's that the false teachers?

Why? Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. When you put faith in the truth gospel and you're born again that's the way you overcome false teaching. You are converted and therefore you have the life of Christ within you and you feed that new nature then you will know when you hear the message this is not truth. So I'd like to say to all of you here especially in the fact that you will graduate soon and you're going to go out into the world and you're going to look for a church then be discerning. What is their doctrine?

What is their focal point? Are they proclaimers of truth or are they ticklers of ears? Is Jesus Christ in him crucified lifted up and magnified and proclaimed and loved and adored and sung about? Or is the message shallow worldly appealing to the appetites of anybody and not preaching the truth of Christ? I want to encourage you to study 1st John.

I want you to think about this. I want you to go through this passage and you yourself give careful consideration for John said there are many false teachers who have gone out into the world. Father give us wisdom and discernment to be able to know your will and to know your truth in Jesus name amen. You've been listening to a sermon from the book of 1st John by Dr. Steve Pettit president of Bob Jones University. If you would like to order the study booklet titled truth and love written for this series visit our website at The Daily Platform dot-com. Thanks again for listening. Join us again tomorrow as we continue the study in 1st John on The Daily Platform.