09-25-2022 – “Living for Christ – Part 4” (Discerning False Teachers)
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September 25, 2022
“Living for Christ – Part 4”
"Discerning False Teachers"
Luke 6:27-49
Last week we studied
Luke 6:37,
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.
where we are told not to judge and not to condemn, but instead, we are told to pardon. Forgiveness through repentance is what God desires;, we are to earnestly seek restoration and reconciliation between God and humanity.
Read Luke 6:38…
38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
This is Jesus’ final command in this section of Scripture and it is in the context of
Luke 6:37,
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.
instead of judging and condemning, our focus would be on giving pardon, for this is reflective of what God the Father has done for us; He has pardoned us, acquitted us from the punishment we deserve because of our sin
(Romans 3:23;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23;
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8;
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:1;
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 10:13).
13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
This is the now the fourth command given by Jesus; as the first three, given in
Luke 6:37
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.
do not judge, do not condemn, do pardon, is now followed by, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” What does that mean?
Jesus uses an illustration from the culture of the day in which He lived, as
- Jeremias writes:
The measuring of the corn is a process which is carried out according to an established pattern. The seller crouches on the ground with the measure between his legs. First of all he fills the measure 3/4’s full and gives it a ion to make the grains settle down. Then he fails the measure to the top and gives it another shake. Next he presses the corn together strongly with both hands. Finally he heaps it into a cone, tapping it carefully to press the grains together, from time to time he bores a hole into the corn and pours a few more grains into it, until there is literally no more room for a single grain. In this way, the purchaser is guaranteed an absolutely full measure; it cannot hold more (cited in Darrell L. Bock Luke 1:1-9:50, the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
[Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 607-8.
When God’s people love unbelievers the way God does, with kindness and mercy and forgiveness, it provides a divine illustration of the marvelous power of salvation that belongs to those who believe in and follow Jesus Christ.
Read Luke 6:39-40…
39 And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?
40 A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
Jesus uses a parable to illustrate the danger of following false teachers. The Lord is rebuking the religious leaders of His day; they are like blind guides leading other blind men across a treacherous landscape full of pits, crevices, quarries, and precipices that they cannot see.
In the very same way, if a student’s teacher knows nothing of the subject he is teaching, his students will remain ignorant just as he is, for he cannot teach them what he doesn’t know.
Blindness is used figuratively in both the Old and New Testaments, in order to illustrate a lack of spiritual truth and insight, a darkness in the heart and mind.
Jeremiah 5:21,
“‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see; who have ears but do not hear.”
Acts 26:15-18,
“And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’”
2Corinthians 4:3-6,
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’”
1John 2:10-11,
“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes”
So, what is Jesus saying in
Luke 6:39-40?
39 And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?
40 A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
If a so-called pastor or Bible teacher doesn’t know the truth of God concerning the way of salvation; he is unable to show anyone else the way to God’s kingdom, for he is blind of the truth.
Referring to the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law in His very first sermon, Jesus warned His followers to follow Him and not be led astray by false teachers.
Matthew 7:13-15,
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
In Matthew 15:14,
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Jesus said to His own disciples, “Let them [the false teachers] alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Matthew chapter 23 is a scathing rebuke of the religious leaders of Israel, e.g.,
Matthew 23:15
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte [convert, new believer, recruit, student]; and when he becomes one [of your followers], you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Matthew 23:33,
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
Look again at
Luke 6:40…
40 A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
A student doesn’t know as much as his teacher, but that teacher cannot give instruction concerning knowledge he does not have, and therefore, it can’t be passed on to the student.
The truth is that false teachers do not come from God, do not teach the Word of God, and do not know the way to God; therefore, any student or follower of such a one, once “fully trained, will be like his teacher,” not knowing or understanding the truth of God concerning way of salvation.
Only true believers and followers of Christ will be saved, because Jesus is
(John 14:6),
“the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through [Him].”
John 10:9-10,
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life [eternal, spiritual], and have it abundantly.”
Everyone who believes in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10,
“if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
1Corinthians 15:1-5,
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to [Peter], then to the twelve.”
Anyone who teaches anything else is a false teacher and an enemy of God
(Galatians 1:9), “As we [the Apostles] have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed [doomed, damned, condemned]!
So, we must be discerning, we are to make judgements in accordance with God’s Word, by the power of God’s Spirit in us.
See 1Corinthians 2:10-11...
10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
Only God’s Spirit living in us can reveal God to us in such a way for us to know God intimately, even the deep things, the very thoughts of God.
See 1Corinthians 2:12-13...
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
God’s Wisdom is revealed to us via the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, and this is “freely given” to us through the revelation of God’s Word.
Jesus said (Matthew 4:4),
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”
God’s Wisdom is revealed to us directly from God, it is sovereign in all the affairs of men
(Colossians 2:8-10),
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
People are “taken captive” [kidnapped, carried off, in their thinking] by godless “philosophies” (a compound of two Greek words [phileo] “love” and [sophia] “wisdom”), i.e., humanity’s pursuit of “hollow and deceptive” human wisdom, is antithetical to God’s wisdom. God’s children are equipped with wisdom from God, so that we will not be led astray and captivated by false teachings and doctrines of demons.
Those who are mature in their faith must guard those who are easily led astray or influenced by such worldly ignorance or doctrine of demons. Christians were deceived in Christ’s time, just as they are today, by false teachings that seduce unaware, ignorant, and immature people; teachings that have been widely accepted by the so-called Christian community; but, our source of truth and wisdom must be the Word of God, not someone masquerading as a teacher of truth.
2Corinthians 11:13-15,
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”
We live in a society that doesn’t want to know or hear God’s wisdom; instead, it listens to the contemporary cultural-religious-academic gurus who seek to make them feel good, and the liberal media that regulates human-centered entertainment and popular thinking by flooding their ears and eyes and minds with worldly and godless dribble and psychobabble.
Many Americans are ignorant of God’s truth; in fact, many consider themselves to be Christians because they go to church, have a Bible, or give to the poor.
Many have believed the lie that by doing good deeds, or having knowledge about a historical Jesus Christ is enough to save them. Well, it isn’t! Going where Christians go, doing what Christians do, won’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a chicken coop, eating grain and clucking will make you a chicken.
See 1Corinthians 2:14-16...
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
A person can read the Bible, even study it for years, and yet totally miss what it says
(see 1Corinthians 1:18).
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
God’s Word must be discerned spiritually, and it will always reveal God’s Son as Creator, Life-giver, Sustainer, Savior, Judge over all; therefore, natural man (unbelievers) cannot understand spiritual truth because they are spiritually dead.
John 3:6-8,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 14:25-26,
"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will
remind you of everything I have said to you.”
God’s Spirit reveals all we need to know in order to trust, believe in, and serve God. We are fully equipped to live productive and victorious lives in this present world while waiting to spend eternity in heaven with God .
The full essence, character, nature, and authority of God dwells in Christ; as Paul writes to the believers
(Colossians 1:15-18)
for, “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, by Him all things were created and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn among the dead, that in everything He might have supremacy.”
Christ dwells in us through God’s Spirit, and He has imparted God’s Wisdom to us that we might serve God
(2Corinthians 13:5),
“Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?”
Romans 8:9-10,
“And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Jesus Christ is God’s Salvation, He is God in us, and He made it possible for all those who believe in Him to know the very mind and wisdom of God, so that we might apply God's revealed, divine, and authoritative Word to all things, as we enjoy our life on this earth while serving God, waiting to be taken to the new heavens and new earth, to spend eternity with Him, where there will be no more crying, or mourning, or pain or death or darkness
(cf. Revelation 21:4;
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 22:5).
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
But on this side of heaven, we are to live for Christ right here, right now
(Galatians 2:20),
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Pastor Mike~
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