Introduction:
The Truth About False Teaching: (Titus 1:10-16)
- It cannot go Unnoticed . (Titus 1:10)
2 Timothy 4:3 - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
Acts 17:11 - "they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
The Four Levels of Theological Disagreement:
- Heresy
- Destructive Thinking
- Ignorance
- Difference of Opinion
- It must be Silenced and Rebuked . (Titus 1:11-14)
2 Timothy 2:24-26 - And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
- It should Serve as a Warning . (Titus 1:15-16)
Luke 6:45 - "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
Jeremiah 6:16 - This is what the LORD says: "Stop at the crossroad and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path and you will find rest for your souls."
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:47-00:53
All right, as Justin said in the video, you can open to the book of Titus chapter one, Titus chapter one.
00:53-00:57
And as you're turning there, I wanna ask you, who would say that they're a gullible person?
00:58-01:01
You're easily tricked, you can buy into things, hook, line, and sinker.
01:01-01:04
All right, now who are the people that think that they're hard to fool?
01:04-01:06
You're really hard to trick.
01:07-01:13
Okay, like three of you raised your hand for the first one and none of you raised your hand for the second one, so you're all in the middle somewhere, I guess.
01:14-01:22
Well, as kids, we can all admit that back then, we were all easily fooled and we bought into a lot of things that were totally untrue and ridiculous.
01:22-01:26
What are some things that kids buy into that aren't true at all?
01:28-01:28
What's that?
01:29-01:31
Step on a crack, break your mama's back.
01:32-01:33
Anything else?
01:35-01:38
Another one is if you pick your nose too deep, you'll touch your brain.
01:39-01:42
Or if you make a silly face, you'll get stuck that way.
01:43-01:46
Yeah, if you eat a watermelon seed, it'll grow in your stomach.
01:46-01:47
How about that one?
01:47-01:51
Or how about teachers don't have their own wives, they actually live at school throughout the week.
01:53-01:54
Now, growing up, I have an older brother.
01:55-01:59
We shared a room for about 10 years, and he loved to prank me on a daily basis.
01:59-02:04
He loved to throw out these wildly false claims to me, and I would just buy into them.
02:05-02:07
'Cause he was older than me, and I wanted to impress him.
02:07-02:08
I wanted to think that I was cool.
02:09-02:16
And one of these wildly false accusations was that every single banana in the world has a little tiny cockroach egg at the bottom.
02:17-02:23
And if you eat it, it'll hatch in your stomach, it'll crawl out your throat and escape out of your mouth.
02:24-02:25
And I bought it.
02:25-02:28
And to this day, I still can't eat an entire banana.
02:29-02:37
I start to freak out, start to gag a little bit because I know it's not true, but I still have that mental image in my mind.
02:38-02:39
I'm a 32 year old man.
02:40-02:49
A 32-year-old husband, pastor, and father, I can't eat a banana, the whole thing, 'cause of a lie my brother told me when I was six years old.
02:49-02:53
And my parents would get really mad at my brother, and they would tell me, Taylor, use your brain.
02:53-02:56
Don't believe everything that he tells you.
02:58-03:03
Well, in Titus chapter one, verses 10 through 16, the apostle Paul gives us really similar advice.
03:04-03:08
He calls us to be discerning and not believe everything that we hear.
03:09-03:17
There are a lot of lies, there's a lot of false teaching in this culture, and even in the church world, that we have to be wary of and not accept.
03:18-03:31
Last week, Pastor Jeff unpacked the purpose of elders and church leaders, and this morning, we're gonna focus our time and attention upon how church leaders should deal with false teaching and those who spread it.
03:31-03:38
So this morning, we're gonna focus on the truth about false teaching, the truth about false teaching.
03:38-03:41
Number one, it cannot go unnoticed.
03:42-03:44
It cannot go unnoticed.
03:48-03:59
So as a refresher, this entire letter is an instruction manual for how the church should be run, given by Paul to Titus, one of his mentees in the faith.
03:59-04:05
At this point in his life, it's Titus' mission and purpose to oversee and pastor the church on Crete.
04:06-04:09
Now, Crete back in Paul's day didn't have the best reputation.
04:09-04:12
And so Titus really had his work cut out for him.
04:12-04:15
He needed all the help that he could get.
04:15-04:21
So let's listen to Paul's advice for how Titus should handle false teaching when it rears its ugly head.
04:21-04:24
Let's start with Titus chapter one, verse 10.
04:25-04:39
Paul writes this, "For there are many who are insubordinate, "empty talkers and deceivers, "especially those of the circumcision party." So first and foremost, Paul calls out specific false teaching in Titus' hometown.
04:39-04:45
He specifically calls out the circumcision party, or as they were also called back then, the Judaizers.
04:46-04:53
Now the circumcision party, they taught that a Gentile man had to be circumcised in order to be part of the family of God.
04:53-05:01
They said you still have to obey the Old Testament law in order to be saved, in order to join God's family.
05:02-05:11
So the salvation math equation for the circumcision party was faith in Jesus Christ plus obedience to the law equals salvation.
05:13-05:21
The circumcision party was a massive problem in Paul's day and he wanted Titus to be ready to knock down this false teaching like a game of whack-a-mole.
05:23-05:30
Apparently there were many people in the Cretan church who were rebellious and wouldn't submit to Titus' leadership and teaching.
05:31-05:34
Tyson just had to deal with a few of these people, but a bunch of them.
05:36-05:40
And Paul labels many of these false teachers as empty talkers and deceivers.
05:42-05:44
In other words, they're smooth operators.
05:44-05:45
They know how to cut a phrase.
05:46-05:49
They can rap bad theology and fancy theological language.
05:51-05:53
We don't see any of that happening in the church world now, do we?
05:55-05:57
By your laughter, I'm sure you all understand that that's very true.
05:58-06:09
There are so many pastors and preachers throughout this country and throughout this world who have massive church buildings, they have Scrooge McDuck swim in a bank vault filled with gold coins, kind of wealth.
06:10-06:15
They're excellent communicators, but their messages have no substance.
06:15-06:18
Their messages are ultimately hollow.
06:19-06:31
They twist the word of God to suit their own agendas and purposes, and intentionally or unintentionally, they are wooing people into believing incorrect teaching that twists the word of God.
06:32-06:37
And Paul speaks of this phenomenon in one of his other pastoral letters, 2 Timothy 4, three, he says this.
06:38-06:47
"For the time is coming when people "will not endure sound teaching, "but having itching ears, they will accumulate "for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
06:48-06:53
"Many are content to only listen to preachers "and teachers who tell them exactly what they wanna hear.
06:54-07:00
"They're like dogs with itching ears "who are looking for someone to scratch them and make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
07:00-07:03
I promise you that's not gonna happen here at Harvest.
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It is not our goal to make you feel good.
07:07-07:10
It's our goal for God to make you holy and mature.
07:10-07:11
And guess what?
07:12-07:14
True happiness will come out of that.
07:15-07:17
We're not gonna teach people what they wanna hear.
07:17-07:20
We're gonna teach what God wants them to hear.
07:20-07:24
And what God wants you to hear is his unfiltered and his unchanging word.
07:25-07:27
And I refuse to put words in the God's mouth.
07:28-07:31
I refuse to take words out of God's mouth and say that he didn't say them.
07:32-07:34
This means that we're gonna ruffle some feathers at times.
07:35-07:39
This means we're gonna present some really challenging truths that you may not wanna deal with.
07:41-07:46
But in those moments we find ourselves disagreeing with God's word or frustrated with God's word, guess what?
07:47-07:51
We're wrong and he's right every single time.
07:52-07:56
In those moments he's calling us to change our thinking and submit to his ways.
07:57-08:04
He's calling us to be men and women of the word whose beliefs, thoughts, and opinions are shaped by this book and this book alone.
08:06-08:14
For Pastor Jeff, myself, and other preachers around here, our goal isn't to wow and impress you with our sermons or give us a pat on the back and think that we're great.
08:15-08:16
That doesn't help anybody.
08:17-08:25
Our goal is to help you get a greater glimpse of who God is, a glimpse of who he's calling you to be and what he's calling you to do.
08:25-08:31
Our goal is to help you realize that you can read, study, to understand this book for yourself.
08:33-08:36
We want you to be as wise and discerning as possible.
08:38-08:43
In Acts chapter 17, the apostle Paul travels to a place called Berea and he begins to teach there.
08:43-08:49
And the Bereans like what Paul had to say, but they didn't just take his word for it without doing any research.
08:49-08:51
And we're told this in Acts 17 11.
08:52-09:00
The Bereans received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
09:00-09:03
So the Bereans heard what Paul had to say.
09:04-09:10
It sounded godly to them, but they still checked the Bible to make sure that it was true.
09:10-09:11
They just do it one time.
09:12-09:12
How often did they do it?
09:13-09:16
Daily, this was a habit for them.
09:17-09:22
I want every single one of you in this room to not just be a Pittsburgher, but a Berean as well.
09:23-09:29
I want you to know this book so well that you can spot the lies of the enemy like that.
09:31-09:37
Check everything that you hear by scripture and make sure that it lines up with the teachings of God's word.
09:38-09:42
Be discerning about big deal issues and small deal issues as well.
09:43-09:50
And part of this discernment process is being able to recognize the different levels of theological disagreements you'll have with other people.
09:50-09:56
We have to be careful not to lightly and flippantly throw the words heresy and blasphemy around.
09:57-10:03
But also, we need to recognize there are some teachings we cannot afford to allow or ignore.
10:04-10:12
So I quickly want to go through the different levels of theological disagreement with you, ranging from extremely serious to not so serious.
10:13-10:16
The first level of theological disagreement is heresy.
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Heresy.
10:20-10:24
This is the emergency or death confive level.
10:24-10:34
This isn't just a matter of preference, but a matter of life or death, heaven or hell, saved or unsaved.
10:34-10:43
When you're saying that something is heresy, you're not just saying that it's unbiblical and unhealthy, you're saying that this belief has eternal consequences.
10:44-10:49
You're saying a person cannot hold this heretical belief and be a born again Christian.
10:51-10:56
This would be true of someone who says that we're saved by a mixture of God's grace and our own good works.
10:57-11:02
Jesus sacrificed on the cross, paid some of the way, but we gotta earn the rest of our way.
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What a slap in the face to our Savior who laid it all out there for us.
11:09-11:10
It sacrificed everything.
11:12-11:16
Heresy about the Trinity and the nature of the Bible has been around since the beginning of Christianity.
11:17-11:22
There are more people than you think who would say, yeah, the Bible's the word of God, but it's filled with a lot of historical errors.
11:22-11:26
It doesn't really matter, because most of those stories aren't true.
11:26-11:28
They're just allegories that teach us really important lessons.
11:30-11:32
Here's another one, open theism.
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Who's ever heard of open theism?
11:35-11:35
Not many of you.
11:36-11:37
Good, 'cause it's really not very good.
11:38-11:42
This view holds that God is not perfect and all wise.
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He's imperfect like us, he makes mistakes, he drops the ball, but don't worry, over time he's getting better, he's becoming a better God, and he's learning.
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Thumbs up or thumbs down, what do we think?
11:54-12:01
Massive thumbs down, what an offense to the king of the universe who never makes a mistake, who knows exactly what he is doing.
12:03-12:06
I could go on and on with different heresies, but I think you get the point.
12:08-12:13
The second level of theological disagreement, there's heresy and there's destructive thinking.
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Destructive thinking.
12:20-12:29
This is a step below heresy because I believe that there are some Christians who fall prey to certain lies, but it doesn't necessarily mean that their salvation is in question.
12:30-12:35
But this destructive thinking is a huge deal because it gets a lot of things wrong about the Bible.
12:36-12:39
A perfect example of this is prosperity theology.
12:40-12:49
Prosperity theology teaches that God guarantees an abundance of health and wealth if you simply have enough faith.
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Paul said later on in this passage that those who teach these kind of lies are teaching for shameful gain.
12:57-13:01
And they deceive many into wandering down a path that's ultimately a dead end street.
13:03-13:06
Many followers of prosperity theology are Christian frauds.
13:07-13:09
They're just using Jesus to get what they want from him.
13:10-13:20
They view the Christian life as a divine vending machine and prayers are like their quarters that they put into the vending machine to twist God's arm and that he has to drop goodies for them whenever they want.
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But other people who fall into this teaching are Christians but they're sadly gullible.
13:27-13:31
And they've bought into a lie that's gonna hurt them in the long run.
13:33-13:38
Another destructive teaching that's really invading Christian schools throughout this country right now is theistic evolution.
13:39-13:40
Who's heard of theistic evolution?
13:41-13:50
It basically means that God has oversaw and guided the process of macroevolution to create all life on earth and even humanity itself.
13:52-14:06
Now we can all agree on microevolution or adaptation and changes within species over time, but that's a huge leap to go from there to species changing to other species and us as humans tracing our lineage back to single-celled organisms and primates.
14:06-14:09
That's a huge leap.
14:10-14:17
Theistic evolution is basically an attempt to merge the creation story with the basic theories of Darwinism.
14:18-14:26
And this belief has become extremely popular, but so dangerous because it throws the whole book of Genesis into chaos.
14:26-14:31
In the minds of theistic evolutionists, the creation of Adam and Eve is an allegory.
14:31-14:33
They're not actually real people.
14:33-14:38
They're just metaphors who stand in for the first evolved humans.
14:39-14:43
But this is pulling a dangerous thread that unravels the whole book of Genesis.
14:43-14:45
At what point does Genesis become true?
14:46-14:48
At what point is it truly historical?
14:49-14:57
Jesus and the writers of scripture taught and believed that Adam and Eve were real people and that we inherit Adam's sin nature.
14:58-15:06
Theistic evolution is an attack on scripture and our status as precious lives made in the image of God.
15:08-15:13
All right, the third level of theological disagreement is ignorance, ignorance.
15:16-15:27
Sometimes a Christian will believe something out of total ignorance, they don't know any better, and they need someone to come alongside them and just lovingly correct them from the Bible.
15:28-15:32
A perfect example of this is one of my biggest theological pet peeves.
15:33-15:50
You know, a child or a loved one will pass on, tragically, and someone with good intentions, wanting to comfort the family will say, "Well, you know, God had to take them "because he needed another angel." Who's ever heard something like that?
15:50-15:51
We've all heard something like that, right?
15:52-15:53
Is that biblical at all?
15:54-15:56
No, it's unbiblical for three different reasons.
15:56-15:59
Probably more, but I can think of three right off the bat.
15:59-16:02
Number one, we don't turn into angels when we die.
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We are completely separate from angels.
16:05-16:07
We don't supernaturally mutate into one.
16:08-16:10
I'm sorry, this isn't Touched by an Angel and you're not Roma Downey.
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It's not gonna happen.
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Secondly, this line of thinking paints God as a total buffoon who constantly makes angel accounting errors.
16:20-16:24
He has to zap people and bring them up to heaven to correct his mistakes.
16:24-16:27
As we just said, God doesn't make any mistakes.
16:29-16:32
Thirdly, God doesn't need anyone for anything.
16:33-16:35
He doesn't even need the angels that he already created.
16:35-16:36
Why would he need to create more?
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This line of thinking is obviously false, but it's not a matter of heresy or destructive thinking.
16:43-16:45
It's a matter of ignorance that can be corrected very simply.
16:46-16:51
And the fourth and final level of theological disagreement is difference of opinion.
16:53-16:54
Difference of opinion.
16:58-17:03
As you mature and grow in your knowledge of God's word, you figure out your theological stance on a lot of issues.
17:03-17:07
And you're gonna find yourself disagreeing with other Christians around you.
17:08-17:19
Hopefully you trust what Pastor Jeff and myself and other preachers have to say from behind this pulpit, but I guarantee you at some point, you'll disagree with something that we have to say.
17:20-17:30
You'll disagree about our views about the end times or specific spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues or prophecy, or our view of alcohol, or church government.
17:31-17:31
And you know what?
17:31-17:42
It's okay to disagree with us on matters of secondary theology, as long as you can make a biblical and sound argument for what you believe.
17:43-17:55
As Christians, we're never gonna fully agree on every single line of doctrine, and that's okay, as long as we can come together and agree on the big deal issues, like who is God, What is salvation?
17:56-17:56
What is the Bible?
17:57-18:00
These are the things we need to really come together on.
18:00-18:07
And let's not divide and tear each other apart over the things that we disagree with that at the end of the day aren't that big of a deal.
18:08-18:15
We can have a difference of opinion on secondary matters of theology, but come together on the big things that God wants us to focus on.
18:16-18:19
So many Christians major in the minors and make a mountain out of a molehill.
18:20-18:28
God's telling us, yeah, to have convictions, to have a theological stance, but also be loving, be gracious, be kind.
18:31-18:34
All right, the truth about false teaching, number one, it cannot go unnoticed.
18:34-18:38
Number two, it must be silenced and rebuked.
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It must be silenced and rebuked.
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Let's read what Paul has to say in verses 11 through 14.
18:47-18:48
Stopping off false teachers.
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They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
18:56-19:03
One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, "evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true.
19:04-19:16
Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.
19:17-19:24
According to Paul, it's not enough just to recognize and notice false teaching, something has to be done about it.
19:24-19:28
Action has to be taken before it spreads like wildfire.
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Paul says that false teaching can not only upset, but divide families so it cannot be ignored.
19:35-19:37
It cannot be allowed to go under the radar.
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But we see all around us false teaching going under the radar.
19:41-19:41
How does this happen?
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It's simple.
19:44-19:48
By godly and mature people standing by and doing nothing about it.
19:50-19:57
You know, after 9/11, the saying, if you see something, say something became very popular.
19:57-20:09
In other words, if you're at the airport and you see something really sketchy and weird, you think, huh, that was strange, and you just go about your day, no, say something to someone who can do something about it.
20:10-20:18
In a similar way, if you hear someone at Harvest say or teach something that's heretical or destructive, Say something.
20:19-20:24
First, you can go to that person and say, "Hey, I really wanna understand what you said "the other day.
20:24-20:28
"Can you help me understand what you meant?" And maybe you misunderstood them.
20:28-20:35
Maybe it actually wasn't a heretical or dangerous teaching, but maybe you heard them right, and they're digging down into this false teaching.
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If they double down, you can show them from Scripture how this isn't true.
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And if they continue to dig in their heels, it's time to bring this matter to the pastoral staff or to one of the elders before it spreads affects more people.
20:49-20:57
Because at the end of the day, Pastor Jeff, myself, and the other elders, we're responsible for protecting the pulpit and the church from doctrinal error.
20:59-21:06
And Paul says that elders must not only silence false teaching, but rebuke those who teach it.
21:07-21:13
He doesn't just say to rebuke these false teachers, but to rebuke them sharply or severely.
21:14-21:20
Now in the original Greek, the word for sharply or severely finds its root in a verb which means to cut.
21:22-21:26
In other words, this is a serious matter that has to be dealt with seriously.
21:27-21:31
False teaching needs to be cut out of the church like a dangerous cancer.
21:33-21:38
This has to be done rightly and done quickly before the infection spreads.
21:40-21:50
But notice that Paul didn't say that we should silence and rebuke false teachers with the intention of beating them in a theological contest or grinding them to dust, what does he say?
21:51-21:56
Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
21:57-22:00
That they may be sound in the faith.
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Going back to the surgery metaphor, a surgeon doesn't cut a patient to harm them, but to cure them.
22:09-22:17
In a similar way, our ultimate hope and cutting out false teaching is to protect the flock and to lead the false teacher to repentance.
22:19-22:22
And Paul speaks to this in 2 Timothy 2, 24 through 26.
22:23-22:31
And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with what?
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With gentleness.
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God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do their will.
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Now this isn't always the outcome, but it should be the outcome that we hope for, the outcome that we pray for.
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Some of us really need to be reminded of this.
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Other people are not our enemy.
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Let me repeat that for you.
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Other people are not our enemy.
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As Christians, we can't have an us versus them mentality.
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We're the good guys and they're the bad guys.
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We have to know and understand that there's so many people in this world who are under the sway of the enemy and their sinful flesh.
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They are prisoners to the ways of this world and the lies of Satan.
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And you know what?
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So were you at one point.
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If we can't have empathy and compassion for those who are lost, then why are we even here?
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It should be our mission to shine the light of the truth in the darkness of people's lives that they can find hope and they can find freedom in Jesus Christ.
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It's not our mission to win arguments.
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It should be our mission to win souls for the Lord.
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All right, the final truth about false teaching, it should serve as a warning.
23:58-24:00
It should serve as a warning.
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As you drive down the road, you come across a lot of construction signs and road signs.
24:10-24:12
What are some of the most common road signs that we see?
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Stop.
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What else?
24:17-24:18
Watch children.
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Yield.
24:20-24:20
Detour.
24:21-24:22
Do not enter.
24:22-24:23
I have a few personal favorites.
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You don't see as much, but you see them every once in a while.
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Here's one for you.
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Fresh oil and chips.
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It sounds like a menu item at a restaurant, doesn't it?
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But it's definitely not as exciting as that.
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What they're really saying is slow down or you're gonna scratch up your car and all the gravel we just laid down.
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The next one's my personal favorite.
24:42-24:43
Falling rock.
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Not to be confused with falling rocks, plural, but with falling rock.
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And as a kid, I used to always think that there's this one pesky boulder that keeps rolling down the road.
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They're like, "Ah, again!" And they push it back up the hill and then one day it'll fall down the road again.
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That's not what it's saying.
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What it's saying is, hey, sometimes rocks fall off this cliff face and smash cars, so be careful.
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These warning signs are there to protect us.
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They're there to keep us out of harm's way.
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In His infinite grace, God fills His word with loving yet stern warnings to keep us from making a total wreck of our lives.
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And Paul offers such a warning in verses 15 through 16 about those who persist in false teaching and refuse to repent.
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While we should seek after and pray for the repentance of false teachers, we should all also learn important lessons from their negative examples and avoid their way of thinking and living.
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You know, over the years, I used to always tell my youth group students, it's great to learn from your own mistakes, but it's even better and much less painful to learn from the mistakes of others.
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So listen to what Paul has to say about this in verses 15 through 16.
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He writes this, "To the pure, all things are pure, "but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, "but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
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"They profess to know God, but deny him by their works.
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"They are detestable, disobedient, "unfit for any good work." It's really obvious that Paul has nothing good to say about false teachers who persist in their false teaching and refuse to repent.
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He says that they're impure, their minds are defiled and corrupt, which leads them to say really destructive things and hurt other people around them.
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You know, Jesus once said something that I think about almost every single day.
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I think about it at least multiple times a week.
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Luke 6, 45, "For out of the abundance of the heart, "the mouth speaks." Another version puts it this way, "The mouth speaks what the heart is full of." How people speak gives you a glimpse into what's going on in their heart.
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Our words are like windows into our souls.
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When someone is teaching something that is a perversion of the truth and against the teachings of scripture, it's obvious that something is really wrong on the inside.
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Their hearts are full of stagnant and contaminated water and that just flows out of their mouth like a fountain.
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But the part of this warning from Paul that really just chills me is when he says These kind of people profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
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There are so many people, preachers, teachers throughout this country, throughout this world, who think that they're saved, but they're not.
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They think that they know and love God, but they only know and love a false version of God that they've created in their own image.
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They think that they're teaching the truth and helping other people, but they're spewing the lies of Satan and leading people down a destructive path.
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These men and women should serve as a warning to be careful of what we allow into our hearts and to our minds, what we allow our children to consume, to be careful of what we choose to accept and believe.
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They should serve as warnings to not buy into the lies of our culture or to place ourselves over the Bible as its final authority.
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We don't stand over the Bible, we stand under it.
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This book is our final authority.
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I wanna close our time in the word with a call from the Lord in Jeremiah 6.16.
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This is what the Lord says.
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Stop at the crossroad and look around.
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Ask for the old godly way and walk in it.
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Travel its path and you will find rest for your souls.
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In 2022, it's always about what's new, what's fresh, what's hip, and God's saying, ignore all that.
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What is the old and tried and true way?
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What's worked for thousands of years?
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Walk down that path.
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As the worship team comes forward, I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
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And I want you to take a moment to stop at the crossroads of your life and take a look around.
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Think about all the different worldviews, philosophies, and faiths that people in your life have bought into.
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Think about the different lies and false teachings that many have fallen into that you know.
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There are so many right now who try to find their hope in themselves, their own accomplishments, money, stuff.
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Others think they can build a paradise on this life by embracing what God has rejected as broken and destructive.
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Others believe that true hope, true change is found in the government.
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This happens for men and women in office.
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Let us daily choose to reject these ways that lead to misery and to death, and instead travel down the ancient and trustworthy ways of the Lord which lead to everlasting life.
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In a time marked by societal drift and deception, we need to stay on the tried and true path of God's word and keep our eyes firmly fixed upon who he's called us to be and what he has called us to do.
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Let's pray.
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Father, we thank you that we're not on our own, that you've given us your word as a guide to tell us what to think, Tell us what to say and tell us what to do.
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We thank you for your Holy Spirit who fills us and illuminates your word.
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Lord, help us to be Bereans who are constantly checking everything that we hear by your word.
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That we wouldn't just buy hook, line, and sinker what everybody has to say.
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We'd always say, what does God have to say about this?
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And Lord, if there's anyone in this room who doesn't know you, I pray to you to open up their heart to the truth and they'd finally believe in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
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If there's someone in this room who's buying into a heretical or destructive teaching, Lord, I pray that you reveal this to them and show them this isn't true.
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They would reject this, they would repent and follow after you and follow after the truth of your word.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Titus 1:10-16
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What does it mean to be a Berean (Acts 17:11)? How can you grow in your ability to be discerning about what you hear/read?
What are the four levels of theological disagreement? Why is it so important to be able to discern the differences between these four levels?
What are some of the most destructive lies/false teachings that the church has to face right now?
How do false teachers serve as warnings to us? What should we learn from their negative example?
Breakout
Pray for the leaders of HBC!