Some time ago a minister called our
office, very disturbed. He said he preaches
holiness and the crucified life in his church,
and he did seem to have a true shepherd's heart.
Then he said that some of his church members had
attended some kind of special seminar - and they
had come home ready to leave his congregation.
They told him, "God has brought us into a
new revelation that has changed our lives. We
heard things we've never heard before. We thought
we were saved before, but now we know we weren't.
Everything we believed about the end times was
wrong. We have seen new truth."
"Pastor, you and your church are in error.
Your people aren't even saved! You think you
preach holiness, but we've discovered what true
holiness is. We've found something .ew!"
Today, that same group of people does not even
attend church anymore, because they can't find
anyone to take them "deeper." Instead,
they feed off some teaching tapes.
Their pastor told me something I've been
hearing from churches all over the nation. He
said, "What is going on? There are so many
new, strange doctrines, so many teachers with new
'revelation.' And they all seem to have a number
of scriptures to back them up. No one is
discerning what is of God and what is of Satan,
what is foolishness and what is righteousness.
Our people are getting confused."
He was so right! New doctrines, new
revelations and new gospels are springing up
almost daily. And it's going to get much worse.
The Bible clearly warns that in the last days
strange doctrines will come forth - introducing
another Jesus, another Spirit, another gospel!
The apostle Paul called together the elders of
the church at Ephesus, and his final words to
these beloved saints were: "I know this,
that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also
of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them" (Acts 20:29-30).
The whole time Paul ministered to the churches
he had established, he harbored a fear that would
last to his dying day. It is a fear any true
shepherd must have in him, and it was never out
of Paul's mind: "By the space of three years
I ceased not to warn every one night and day with
tears" (Acts 20:31). It was the fear of
false teachers coming in to deceive.
Paul said to the Corinthians, "I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy" (2
Corinthians 11:2).
Yet he was not talking about someone stealing
his sheep. He wasn't saying, "Hey, these
sheep are mine! I'm their teacher - they're under
my authority." No, rather, Paul was
indignant thinking that some teacher would come
between his disciples and their devotion to Jesus:
"for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste [pure] virgin
to Christ" (verse 2).
Paul said he had one purpose, one goal, one
desire - and it is the same desire all true
shepherds must have: to stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and present every spiritual child
to Him pure, unspotted, holy and righteous,
rooted and grounded in the Word. It is to see
them stand before His throne with assurance,
knowing you have given them the whole counsel of
God...that they were not tossed about by every
word of doctrine, not deceived by doctrines of
demons...that they came through every test and
trial with the Word of God hidden in their hearts!
Beloved, my greatest joy in glory - along with
Paul and every true minister of God - will be to
hear each of your names called by the Lord, see
you stand before Him overflowing with devotion
and humility, and hear Him say to you, "Well
done, good and faithful servant!"
That truly is the one desire of my heart. And
that is why I preach with fire and zeal. If Paul
were alive today and preaching from the pulpit of
Times Square Church, he would say the same thing
to us tearfully every time he spoke: "Beware!
An invasion is coming! False teachers and false
doctrines will bombard you from all sides. They
will introduce to you another Christ. They will
not be of the Holy Spirit, but of another spirit.
And it will not be the true gospel - it will be
another."
Paul confessed to a fear he had about them:
"But I fear, least by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians
11:3). Paul knew that the Corinthians were too
susceptible to false teachers. He was saying,
"You are too open, too willing to listen,
too anxious to hear something new!"
So often, a good-hearted, solid Christian will
hand me a tape and say, "You've got to hear
this teacher. The message is incredible, powerful!
Everybody's talking about it." So I listen.
And it sounds pretty good - anointed, new and
fresh. But then the Spirit begins to churn inside
me.
Does this ever happen with you? As you listen,
you feel an uneasiness - so you wait, and you
keep listening. You say, "I don't hear
anything wrong yet. But something does not sound
right." And if you stay with it, suddenly,
there it is - error. Gross, total error -
frightful heresy! Unscriptural interpretations,
fanciful dreams, man's own ideas, as if a mystery
is being unlocked. But it does not line up with
God's Word.
Paul was amazed by how easily some of the
Galatians were swayed: "I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and
would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:6-8).
Paul was saying, "Don't be so gentlemanly
and ladylike about it. If it's not the gospel you
heard from me, it's not of God. It's accursed,
rotten, deadly. It is serious business, and it
will trouble you if you get caught up in it. So
don't take it lightly. Don't bear with it, and
don't be nice about it. Let the one who preaches
it be accursed!"
It doesn't matter if an angel
appears and tells you the message is of God. It
doesn't matter if you and your friends "discern"
that it's all right. The Bible makes it plain: If
it does not line up with Paul's gospel, it is of
Satan, "accursed."
How shall we know then what
is the
true gospel, and what is accursed?
Let me say first that even the most demonic
false teachers begin with warnings of false
doctrine. They loudly and strongly warn against
getting caught up in something unlike Christ.
Nearly every false teacher I've heard sounds off
the loudest about false doctrine, then proceeds
to preach what is false. They spend much time
persuading their hearers they are unlike false
teachers - yet they're setting them up to hear
their message.
Doctrine is not right simply because the
teacher appears to be holy, good, pious and
sincere. Throughout church history the most
damaging heresies have been taught by men who
were considered good and sincere. That makes
false doctrine all the more dangerous. Many a
Christian has said, "But he is such a good
man, so sober, so sincere, so loving."
Indeed, a Christ-centered teacher will be holy,
sober and sincere--but the devil's "angels
of light" will appear to be too. They will
come as messengers of righteousness, truth and
revelation.
Paul says Satan tries to deceive us, just as
he deceived Eve in the garden. He uses the same
craftiness, the same deception: "I fear,
lest... as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted"
(2 Corinthians 11:3).
Nothing has changed since then!
The false gospel Satan introduced to Eve is the
same gospel he promotes today--and all false
gospels have the same traits in common. God did
not leave this important matter to guess-work. He
has made it very clear, and there are absolute
clues to watch for, which expose the teaching as
false:
1. Any Teaching That
Undermines the
Fear of God is Accursed - Of the Devil!
All false teachers have this one message in
common: "Relax, God cant' be hard. He won't
hurt you--He loves you. A loving god wants you to
enjoy life." The enemy's trick is to move
you away from the awesome reverence and fear of a
holy God who judges sin. All false doctrine has
this one aim--to undermine the fear of God in you.
Only the powerful, absolute fear of God kept
Adam and Eve from disobeying Him. It was not
their love for God, nor their daily communion. It
was this: "The Lord God commanded the man...
ye shall not eat of it [the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil]: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis
2:16-17).
But Satan came with a smooth message: "Ye
shall not surely die" (3:4). This was a
total perversion of truth - another gospel! Yet
it was just what Eve wanted to hear. You see,
something inside her resisted God's commandment.
The Lord's restriction seemed too much of a yoke,
and she chafed under it.
Satan knew this was in Eve, and he began to
undermine the fear of God in her immediately:
"Did God really say this? God is not like
that. You have the wrong concept of Him. Do you
think He will deny you knowledge and wisdom, when
He Himself is Knowledge and Wisdom? What kind of
a god do you think He is? You surely will not die!"
You may sit under strong preaching that seems
like a heavy yoke. You may chafe under it and say,
"I don't like it!" But don't be
deceived: It is the very thing that brings you
freedom, peace and joy. Yet still you cry out
within, "I can't serve God this way. I want
liberty!"
There is a teaching currently circulating in
the charismatic movement about a new liberty. It
says, "Come sing and shout and speak in
tongues--and then go out and live like the devil!"
That isn't freedom. It's Satan saying, "You
shall not die. God is not hard. He's too loving,
too merciful." Satan found a gospel that
suited the lust of Eve's flesh--and he'll find
one to suit the itching ears of restless
Christians!
I've heard from godly, heartbroken youth
pastors who have been fired from their churches
or are quitting. They preach holiness and the
fear of God to the teenagers, but the pastors and
parents are complaining that they bring a bondage
to the youth: "We don't want you preaching
that stuff to our kids." These teenagers (some
of whom are preacher's kids) are living in total
rebellion. They are disrespectful, fooling their
parents, lusting after the world. And the
messages about holiness and the fear of God are
shaking these kids up because they're never heard
it before.
We have raised an entire generation that is
totally devoid of the fear of God. They have
never known anything about judgement. They've
always had everything they've wanted. They say,
"We want rock-and-roll," and their
parents say, "don't upset them. Bring rock-and-roll
into the church and give it Christian lyrics."
Or, "they're going to have sex anyway, so
let's give them protection."
These youth have never known God's fear,
because pastors and parents have made God out to
be the great appeaser in the sky. Only a handful
of Christian youth today walk in holiness. Why?
Because pastors are too weak to preach the gospel
in the pulpit--and because parents are living
double lives, and their kids know it!
Some Christians have written to me, "Brother
Dave, you preach so hard. Do you preach that way
all the time in your church? Do the people take
it?"
My answer is this: We are called to preach the
Word with such power and authority that it will
produce a constant fear of God in every hearer.
Those who won't forsake their pet sins won't stay,
because they will be offended. They will turn
away their ears from the truth and will seek out
teachers to cater to their lusts (see 2 Timothy 4:1-4).
God's Word says, "By the fear of the Lord
men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). Here
is what I believe a true gospel message must
produce in us:
1) A hatred for sin that allows no excuses or
alibis.
2) A conviction for all spiritual laziness and
compromise.
3) An inner knowledge that God does not wink at
our sins.
4) A conviction that we will reap what we sow.
5) A righteous, holy fear of God.
6) A confidence that He will deliver us from
every sin we hate and resist.
Are you uncertain or unconvinced about the
need to walk in the fear of God? To end that once
and for all, see Isaiah 11:1-3. This passage
prophesied about One on whom the Spirit of the
Lord would rest--One who would be given "quick
understanding in the fear of the Lord." This
passage is talking about Jesus! And if Jesus
walked in the fear of the Father and delighted in
it, so much more should we!
Beware of any message that
breaks conviction for sin, that produces a spirit
of non-vigilance, that eases you back softly and
whispers, "All is well." All such
tranquilizers are false gospels!
2. Beware of Any Gospel That
Diverts You
From Single-Minded Devotion to Jesus Christ.
Paul solemnly warns us that Satan will
transform Himself into an angel of light--that he
will raise up his own false teachers, all of them
posing as ministers of righteousness.
Light represents truth, gospel, revelation.
Satan will come using the lovely name of Jesus,
and he will attempt to deceive even the elect:
"Transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:13). Think of
the terror of such a thing! To face the last days
under the power of false apostles, embracing a
doctrine of the devil, being under the control of
a false spirit.
How could such a thing happen? How could
anyone sit under the kind of perverted gospel
Paul describes and not know it? There is only one
way--by refusing to forsake lust and continuing
to walk in blatant disobedience. Lust is the
magnet that draws a person to false apostles. I
can promise you, if you hang onto your lust, you'll
come under false doctrine. It's inevitable - you'll
find it, and it will find you. And you'll be so
blind, you won't know it.
In the 18th century, another gospel was
introduced called antinomianism, meaning "anti-law."
This gospel is with us today, and it is stronger
than ever. It undermines the fear of God by
suggesting that once you believe, you can sin and
never be damned, because Jesus has covered it all.
Dr. Tobins Crisp was one of the teachers of
this new doctrine, which swept through Germany.
Its proponents used Jesus' name as a by-word:
"There is much talk about grace and heart-searching,
but give me Christ! I seek not for promises, but
Christ! I seek not for sanctification, but Christ!
Don't talk of meditation or duty--tell me of
Christ!"
It sounds like pure devotion to Christ--a
gospel that's centered on Jesus. But Jesus
Himself tells us that not all who say, "Lord,
Lord," will enter into His kingdom. Not
everyone who throws around the name of Jesus will
be preaching the true gospel.
The doctrine of antinomianism is still being
preached today, and the charismatic movement is
falling for it hook, line and sinker. Listen to
the rest of this doctrine:
"A believer may be assured of pardon as
soon as he commits one sin, even adultery or
murder. God does no longer stand displeased
though a believer do sin often. There is no sin a
believer can commit that can cause him any hurt--therefore
there is no reason to fear sin. Sin is dead and
has no more terror. If we tell believers they
must walk holy and do good works or God will be
angry with them, we abuse the Scriptures. We are
then lying in God's face. God has done everything
in Christ--there is nothing to fear!"
It is as though the Christians who embrace
this doctrine are sitting in some dark pit,
waiting for Jesus to come along. They're saying,
"Lord, You know where I am. If You love me,
come pick me up out of here." No! The Bible
commands us to resist the devil, and he will flee
from you!
We've made Christians appear to
be a bunch of helpless cripples--no power or
authority, bound by sinful habits, waiting around
for a miraculous deliverance. There is no holy
stirring against sin, no fear of God.
3. There Can Be No Devotion
to
Christ Without a Walk of Holiness
This is how all doctrine must be judged: Does
it conform you into the likeness of Jesus Christ?
You can't call a gospel pure simply because the
teacher preaches against sin, or because Christ
is referred to often. The New Age movement speaks
much of the Christ Spirit.
I have heard reprobate preachers scream the
name of Jesus into a microphone, thundering
against homosexuality, drugs and the sins of
society. But the longer I listened, the more I
realized: this man is not really broken. His
messages are not convicting. He's talking about
someone else's sin, not his own.
Such preachers play to the crowd, whipping up
enthusiasm. They have no real conviction, no
consuming desire to conform the people to the
image of Christ. Christians love to go to
meetings where they hear a preacher talk about
the absence of prayer in schools. Perhaps he'll
mention something about our covetousness, pride
and adultery, the things that are in our own
hearts. But then out comes the soothing, relaxing
word. And once the confidence is gained, the fear
of God is undermined.
There is one sure test for true holiness
preaching. It is found in 2 Timothy 2:19: "Nevertheless
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And,
Let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity."
I feel, as Paul must have, a heart wrenching
cry to warn God's people of what is coming. There
are great theological wars ahead. The whole
charismatic movement will be divided into
different camps, rallying behind their doctrines,
teachers and books, accusing each other of error
and false prophecy. And all will believe they are
defending the faith!
They won't be fighting the devil, because they'll
be too busy calling each other heretics. It will
be a time of great confusion, and unlearned
Christians won't know who to believe.
Beloved, I want to fight the real enemy. And
that enemy is out on the streets--and in our own
hearts! I'm not going to argue over prophecy. I
want to stand with any brother or sister who
walks in the fear of God and whose heart is given
in pure devotion to Jesus Christ.
We must get our eyes off
teachers and evangelists, and become students of
God's Word. "Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"
(2 Timothy 2:15). Don't look for an "approved"
pastor or evangelist. You'll go to one man after
another, and they'll all fail you, until finally
you'll lose hope. Get your eyes off all preachers
and onto Jesus Christ!
4. The True Gospel Is
Concerned With Your
Heart - for Out of It Come the Issues Of Life!
The Pharisees saw some of the Lord's disciples
eating bread with unwashed hands, and "they
found fault" (Mark 7:2). "For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash
their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition
of the elders" (verse 3).
These men asked Jesus why His disciples didn't
walk in this kind of "holiness." Yet
theirs was only a ceremonial tradition. It was
all outward, having only to do with acts of the
flesh. Jesus answered them, "Well hath (Isaiah)
prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written,
this people honoureth me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me" (verse 6). Jesus
said, in essence, "your teaching is all in
vain. It doesn't change your heart. It's all show,
words, phony deeds!"
He's saying to us in this, "If a gospel
gives Me nothing but lip service and doesn't deal
with the heart, don't waste time with it. True
doctrine has to get to the issues of the heart."
Jesus exposes the problem with all false gospels:
They do not reach what defiles the man - they do
not convict or change the heart. They offer a
form of godliness, with no heart. "But these
things which proceed from the mouth come forth
from the heart; and they defile the man" (Matthew
15:18).
Paul said, "Follow righteousness, faith,
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22). Don't
tell me about the miracles in your church--the
praise, worship, or how well the pastor preaches.
No - tell me about a people who call on God out
of pure heart! Tell me that, though they've not
yet arrived, they are being provoked in that
direction. They're allowing God to search and try
their hearts, to expose their sinful attitudes.
That's the true gospel of Jesus. It's a gospel
that convicts the heart, deals with the heart and
changes the heart! Is this the gospel being
preached to you? Does it convict you of those
inner, hidden sins? Evil Thoughts? Adultery?
Fornication? Murder? Stealing? Covetousness?
Wickedness? Pride? Foolishness?
If not, then find and stay in a church with a
people where your heart is exposed, shaken - and
changed for the glory of Christ!
Copyright (C)1999 by
World Challenge, Lindale Texas.