How Can You Tell if a Teacher is Deceiving You?

Okay, good to see everybody back in, and oh my goodness, it looks so much better to see everybody behind a table, and you know, I've always, years back, I would stress to our television audience, this is an informal Bible study, and that's why you'll see your coffee cups and we're just informal. My teaching is informal, I just don't want anybody to feel that this is anything different than if we were to have a home Bible study, and as I've stressed so often, we're not associated with any particular group, I'm free to teach as the Lord leads me, and we just let the chips fall where they may. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but all I ask is if you're going to disagree, you've got to do it on the basis of the Book, because denominational teaching and hierarchical pressure, that doesn't count for anything. But what does the Book say? And you know, I've stressed so often, it isn't just what the Book says, what it doesn't say, because so much of what we hear is not in here. I wish you could just hear some of our phone calls of what people are hearing, and the questions they're having, and I'll say, well can you find it in your Bible? No, that's why I'm calling. Well if you can't find it in your Bible, you run from it, because then it is not basic truth. So anyway, for those of you watching again on television, all the past programs are available on the videotapes, and the audiotapes, and then Jerry Poole has been transcribing, and Keith Decker gets it ready for the printer, and so all these programs are also available in print. So if you're interested in any of those, you call us on the 800 number, or drop us a note, and we'll get the information to you. Okay, I think that's all that needs to be said. By way of announcements, we're ready to get back and pick up where we left off. Colossians chapter 2, and Jerry's got it on the board. We're going to go down to verse 4. Colossians chapter 2, and now verse 4. And I'm going to pretty much skim over these verses 4, 5, and 6, and 7, because verse 4 and verse 8, I'm going to tie together. And so I'm going to wait until we get to verse 8 before we teach verse 4, because they both teach about deception, about being beguiled. So we'll put them together. Verse 4, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him, rooted, built up in Him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. A verse just comes to mind, like I told Jerry, a lot of times these things I don't intend to do, but we trust the Spirit has a reason for it. Come back with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, because I'm sure this is exactly what's on the Apostle's mind as he writes, is as he shared it in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 27 and 28. Now remember the Corinthian letters were written several years before these prison epistles, but nevertheless, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27 and 28. "...in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness..." And I even skipped the more gross events such as his beatings with rods and being stoned with stones and so forth, but all of these things were part and parcel of the Apostle's life and experience. And then verse 28, "...beside those things, the physical suffering, that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care or the concern of all the churches." So the man was just constantly burdened, wondering how is that church in Philippi doing? How are the folks over in Colossae doing? How are the folks at Ephesus? And all these things that he had been a part and parcel of were on his mind constantly. And so now if you come back to Colossae chapter 2, I can't help but feel that this was on his mind as he wrote verses 5 and 6. Colossae 2, verse 5, "...yet I am joying, and beholding your order, your steadfastness in faith in Christ, rooted build up in him." Now then I'm going to come into verse 8, and tie that up with verse 4. What's the first word? Beware. Look out! See? There's danger ahead. And what's the danger? False teaching. You know, I've often said, I know that with God He's sovereign, and He saw to it that it survived. But have you ever stopped to realize what a miracle it is that Christianity ever survived? Isn't it a miracle that it ever survived? Here it was just a little group of believers brought out of paganism, and Paul and Silas would teach them for a few weeks, and leave them. No printed book to leave with them, no trained pastor to leave with them, and then they would move on. And then with all of the false teaching, the Judaizers who would come right behind the Apostle and say, now wait a minute people, don't you believe what this Apostle is telling you, that you're saved by this alone. You have to keep the law, you have to be circumcised. I just am amazed that it all survived. But of course God is sovereign, and He watched over it. We know that. But now verse 8 again, "...beware lest any man..." So I have to think that in the Colossian Church there was probably somebody who was guilty of this, and Paul didn't name him, but he certainly made the congregation aware of what he was doing. "...beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy, and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and its world system, and not after Christ." Now tie that up with verse 4, "...lest any man should beguile you with enticing word." Now listen, I've been telling people for 25 years, you're not going to have someone come in behind your pulpit and just flat out say, now look folks, I am going to deceive you. You know better than that. Nobody would do that, but they come up there like wolves in sheep's clothing, don't they? And again I got a call from West Texas, where they'd had a guest speaker situation, and it was pitiful, but yet she said the congregation didn't even realize what he was. Well it was a wolf in sheep's clothing, and I'm sure the guy didn't come into that pulpit and say, okay I'm going to fill you up with false teaching, but instead they make it sound like they're the authority, and like he says here, with enticing words. Now let's compare that then with the apostle himself, and let's go back to Romans chapter 16. Because Paul is always showing the opposite side of the coin with his own ministry. That he would never deceive anybody. He would never bring anything but the truth. Now let's go back to Romans chapter 16, verse 17-18. Now Paul says, I beseech you brethren, mark them who cause division and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, avoid them. Now verse 18, Paul says, For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, or their own physical, material appetites. Boy doesn't that ring a bell? Doesn't that ring a bell? My, they'll come into our congregations and just milk them from start to finish, to line their own pockets. And by good words and fair speeches, what's the next word? They deceive. They deceive the hearts of the simple. Now we're not talking about simple minded people, we're talking about believers who are not yet rooted in the truth. And like a child who was still simple, these early believers could be so easily led astray, and so Paul is warning them. And such people are out for nothing but to fill their own physical and material desires. Let's go to another one right down the page in I Corinthians chapter 2, and I think I have it in verse 4. Now this is how he came to these congregations, as opposite the false teachers. And he says, My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. But, to put the subject back in, my words were a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Remember I told you in the last half hour, Paul likes that word. The Holy Spirit inspires him to use it every once in a while. That it was the power of God that kept driving him on. Now in verse 5, why did the man just simply totally depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, and to make sure that everything he said was honest, above board, and was to enhance their spiritual well-being? Here it is, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. Our faith isn't set in the wisdom of men. And as we get back to Colossians in the next verse, or the philosophies or the traditions of men, that's not where our faith rests. Our faith rests in the Word of God. Read verse 5 again, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but it should stand, or rest, or set in concrete, in the power of God. See then you're on solid ground. Let's go to another one, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where we just were a moment ago. Now verse 13, I'm always afraid I don't use enough verses, and yet I don't want to use too many so that we waste time, but let's drop in at verse 13. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13, "...for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, of their own volition. They are self-proclaimed, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness." Scary language isn't it? What does it tell us? Oh, we have to be so careful. We can't just sit down and say, well that man's using the Bible, he's behind the pulpit, he's behind the sacred desk, what he says must be true. Don't you ever do that, not with me or anybody else. But what we have to look at, is it lining up with the Word of God. Verse 15 reading on, "...so they are transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works." You know what that tells me? They're going to be at the Great White Throne, and you know who's there? Nobody but lost people, because these men cannot be the possessors of eternal life, or they could not be used of Satan in such a way. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14, "...that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro." That is in our spiritual learning. "...that we be not as children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine." Now there again, you have no idea how many people will call and say they've been in that group, and that group, and that group, and that group, sometimes five, six different groups, and they're all just as bad as the other, and then finally they saw the light and came out and embellished the truth. But listen, the world is full of these false teachings. A lot of times it's the cults, but not always. And so Paul is warning us here, that we're not to be carried around with every wind of doctrine or teaching by the slight of men, or as he said a little while ago, with their fast and smooth talk, or their cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. That's their job, that's all they're living for, is to deceive the masses. And oh, we're seeing it, and yet the Scripture warns us that those kind of people are to be avoided at all costs. Now I think I've got one more in the next chapter yet, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 6. See how much Paul deals with beware of deception? Almost as much as the positive. This is what we have to be careful of. Ephesians 5, verse 6, "...let no man deceive you with vain or worthless words. For because of these things, because of these false teachers, cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." And these guys are going to be part of it. They're going to be part of the people that they have deceived. So then verse 7, "...be ye not therefore partakers with them." Stand up and just say, hey, I'm not going to follow this. Now we've got people in other states around the country that have come out of some of these groups, and they'll admit, how in the world did we sit there for ten years and listen to this stuff? But they didn't know any better. I hope I can say this and get away with it. One guy said, we had a fellow come into our church, and he says, now look people, so far as you are concerned, I am your God. And he said, it just didn't bother us a bit. See? You'd be surprised what we hear. But that's what's out there. And he said, the rank and file of people are still going. But the Lord opened their eyes, and they came out of it. But see, this is what the Apostle Paul was constantly aware of, that you had all these false teachers coming in and hoodwinking the people. Oh, I could stand here all afternoon and just tell you phone call after phone call of what people are telling us they're being subjected to. I'll tell you in private, I don't want to tell the whole world, but it is, it's frightening. Well this is why, and even the Lord Himself. Let's go back to the words of the Lord Jesus Himself in Matthew 24. My Oklahoma classes, I almost deluged them with this verse for six months straight. Every week I would remind them what the Lord said in Matthew 24. Matthew 24 and let's just start at verse 3. Matthew 24, and we'll start at verse 3. Lest you think I'm hung up on Paul and can't use anything else, I'll prove I can. Matthew 24, verse 3. And as He, the Lord Jesus, here in His earthly ministry, and this is before the crucifixion, and as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples, the twelve, came unto Him privately. In other words, without the press of the crowds, it was just Jesus and the twelve. And they said, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming in the end of the age? Now look what Jesus answered. Verse 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed, be careful, be awake, and let no man deceive you. Now what does that tell you? That's a sign of the end time. That the world is just going to be inundated with deception. Because we know the world has to be made ready for the man of sin, the global leader that's coming on the scene, and we're getting closer and closer I feel. And so consequently, in order to get the world ready for him, Satan is deceiving them so that they'll be ready for him with open arms. But you and I are to know better. We're not to fall into that trap. We're not to be ready for the man of sin. We're to be ready for the head of the body at His soon return. Now let's go back to Colossians chapter 2, reading on in verse 8. Colossians 2, verse 8, "...lest any man spoil you through philosophy," that is the thoughts and the mind of educated men. Now again, always be careful. I've got nothing against education, but I'm going to look at it the way the Scripture does, that when they get puffed up and feel that their thoughts and their own ideas supersede the Scripture, then I have to get my hackles out and say, Now listen, we're not going to go by the intellectual ideas of men, and their philosophies, and their vain deceit, nor are we going to follow their tradition. Now you'd be surprised how many times I can ask a pastor a particular thing that they may not agree with me. And so I'll ask them, Okay, show me in the Scripture why you do what you do. Well they can't. Then why do you do it? And then after a blank stare of about 30 seconds, here it comes, tradition, tradition. And oh, how Paul hated the Word. How the Apostle Paul hated tradition. You say, Well where do you get that? Back up a few pages to Galatians chapter 1. And of course Galatians 1 and 2 is a recap of course of his early ministry, and chapter 1 of course is his conversion on the road to Damascus, but he's giving us a brief glimpse of his background. Galatians chapter 1, we'll start at verse 11, and we'll begin at verse 11. But he says, Galatians 1. I certify you brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now that's the mystery again that he referred to in Romans. Now he says, you have heard of my conversation, or manner of living, in times past, in the Jews religion, Judaism, temple worship, the whole nine yards. And how that beyond measure I persecuted the church, or the assembly I always use, of God, and wasted it. In other words, those Jewish believers who had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, and they had come aside out of the mainstream of Judaism, although they still kept temple worship remember, but they were now congregating on their own, and recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah. Alright, that's the people then that the apostle Paul just ravaged, because he thought they were imposters, and that they were heretics. But that's not what I want you to see. Verse 14. And he says, I profited in the Jews religion, above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers. Now you want to remember, and we're going to see this a little more clearly, that the Judaism of Christ's day was a far cry from the original with Moses and the tabernacle worship in the wilderness. Well what would happen? Well you know, the rabbis blessed their hearts, and they would sit there by the hour, and by the days, and by the months, and they would be examining all these concepts of the Torah, and then like today we would set up a commentary of what it really meant. Well after all these rabbis had made these commentaries concerning the Torah, especially Judaism from what I've been able to gather from Jewish writing by the time of Christ, was 613 rules. Now I'm going to be commenting on that again when we get to the verse that they've been crucified. But nevertheless, that was the tradition of the fathers that the Saul of Tarsus had been steeped in. I dare say he knew all 613, forwards and backwards, and from the middle both directions. He just knew them. It was part and parcel of him. Well we're seeing the same thing today, when people are steeped in some false cult for a lifetime, maybe 70 years, and then they begin to see the truth. But is it easy? No, it's never easy, and it's a battle to pull away from it, and every time they make a step forward, that old pull draws them back. Well you see this is what Paul knew was to follow the traditions of men. And so even for us, now you can come back to Colossians again, even for us today we have to be constantly aware, are you simply following what Grandpa believed? But what if Grandpa's in hell? Are you going to follow him there? See? And that's what we have to realize. Just because Grandpa could quote Scripture, that doesn't mean that he had the truth of the Word of God. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner-supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the Scriptures, and you'd like to see others enjoy the teaching, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552, or call 1-800-369-7856. 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