Warning Against False Teachers

[0:00] I'll go ahead and read it so it can be more coherent. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders, I think we are aware that the truth that is contained in these two verses is not accepted by billions of people around the world.

[0:39] There are billions of Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and Taoists and Confucianists who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

[0:55] And that should be concerning to us. And more than concerning, though, I think it should be alarming to us that this truth in these two verses is increasingly rejected.

[1:07] There's a difference between not accepting because you don't know, but there's a difference on the other side. You have those who reject it. They've heard the truth, but they reject it, and they say that, no, Jesus is not the only way.

[1:25] There are other ways. And these individuals have some of the largest platforms in churches. They themselves will call themselves preachers, and the places that they frequent they will call churches.

[1:40] And increasingly they're saying that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. They have incredible audiences. They have incredible platforms. And they tell people that even religions like Buddhism and Islam and Hinduism, which other people worship, can lead them to heaven.

[2:07] They say so long as what they believe in as God, so long as they're believing, God is able to bring them to himself and bring them to heaven.

[2:18] And some of these individuals have been endorsed by entertainment icons like Oprah Winfrey. And their platform is even increasing to be able to spread this message that they have to countless millions of people who buy into their false message.

[2:39] Now, in case you're wondering why I'm raising this this morning, I raise it because about 20 years ago, this difference in opinion, this debate about how many ways can take a person to heaven, this was largely outside of the church.

[3:01] This took place between Christians and Muslims. You would see a Christian pastor perhaps in some Muslim Iman debate and talk about which way is the right way.

[3:16] That took place outside of the church about 20 years ago, but now today the debate is within the church. This debate is now within the church where in the visible church, among those who would say we are Christians, they are pitted against each other and some are saying no, Jesus is the only way and there are others who are saying Jesus is one of the ways.

[3:40] And that's why I raise it this morning and that is why this scripture that we have memorized this week is so important. It is so important that we are persuaded from God's word that Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation.

[3:53] We will have no passion for missions if we believe that Hindus and Buddhists and people who are trapped into all those other religions can find their way to Christ if we believe that there are multiple ways.

[4:14] But when we are persuaded that Jesus is the only way, it causes the flames of mission to burn in our hearts that we want those people to know and to hear the true gospel.

[4:28] And when we hear individuals who are distorting that gospel, we are burdened and we are concerned. And it's not enough just to say, well, to each his own.

[4:40] And so these two verses that we have memorized over this past week are increasingly important in the church today.

[4:50] We shouldn't be totally surprised by this. Well, we shouldn't be surprised at all by this state of affairs. We should be concerned by it, but not surprised by it because it is nothing new.

[5:05] It is not something that has just come in our day. What we find is that in this letter that we have been studying since the earlier part of this year, 1 Timothy, we see the Apostle Paul raising this concern.

[5:20] He raised it at the opening of this letter, and now as he comes to the close of the letter where we now find ourselves, the Apostle Paul is once again raising this concern about false teachers and false teaching.

[5:36] In 1 Timothy chapter 4, in verse 1, he wrote to Timothy and he said, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

[5:55] He says that's going to happen in the latter times. He goes on through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

[6:22] And then in this passage that we have come to this morning, the Apostle Paul in verses 3 through 5 of 1 Timothy 6, further warns against false teachers and false teaching and the harm they bring to those who sit under them.

[6:44] So this morning in the providence of God, even as we have been studying those two verses of Acts chapter 4, we now have the opportunity to be warned again and reminded again about false teachers.

[7:03] And so if you have not yet done so, please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 6. And this morning our attention will be focused on verses 3 through 5.

[7:14] 1 Timothy 6, verses 3 through 5. Paul writes, If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

[7:45] He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means to gain.

[8:12] Let's pray together. Father, we want to thank you this morning for the privilege we have to gather as your people. Thank you, Lord, that in your great mercy you have saved us and brought us to yourself.

[8:33] And we have the privilege of gathering as the people of God to worship the God of our salvation and to hear the word of God. And Father, we ask this morning that you would come by your spirit and that you would grant illumination to our hearts.

[8:52] that you would cause us to be able to receive the engrafted word of God which enables us to grow. Lord, I pray this morning that you would open our hearts and posture our minds to receive the truth and to stand in the truth and thereby to be protected against false teaching and false teachers.

[9:24] Lord, I thank you that you know each one of us individually. You know our circumstances. Lord, you know the extent to which this message is relevant to where we are.

[9:42] And God, I pray that you would speak to us. Lord, speak to us in our present circumstances. Speak to us even for the days ahead as light and near light begin to look more and more the same.

[10:02] Would you give us discerning hearts, Lord? And would you fill our minds with your word and guard us against these snares of the devil, we pray.

[10:16] in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, here the Apostle Paul is concluding his letter to Timothy. And we see that he is concluding in a manner that is similar to how he began.

[10:33] He had a great burden for this church in Ephesus concerning false teachers and their false teachings. and so he left his son, his true son of the faith, Timothy, to address false teaching and also to teach sound doctrine.

[10:57] And here again, we need to be aware that the concern was not outside of the church. These false teachers were within the church. And their false teaching was affecting people in the church.

[11:09] And so Paul warns Timothy and by extension he warns all of us who belong to Christ. And in essence, his warning in these three verses is this.

[11:23] Here's his warning in these three verses. False teachers and false teachings have an ungodly effect on those who sit under them. False teachings, false teachers and false teachings have an ungodly effect on those who sit under them.

[11:40] That is the danger of false teachers and false teachings. And once again, when we consider the Apostle Paul's warnings in our context today, it is not false teachers and false teachings outside of the church.

[11:58] It is not Rastafarianism that we are concerned about this morning. It is not Buddhism that we are concerned about. It is not Muslim, the Muslim faith that we are concerned about this morning.

[12:11] We are being warned against those who claim to be Christian teachers but they teach another doctrine. And brothers and sisters, we need to be aware that this is a reality and if we're not even aware of this, we are already in a position to be seduced.

[12:30] those who believe they can listen to false teachers and false teaching and simply, as they say, eat the meat and spit out the bones are mistaken.

[12:47] Because what we see the Apostle Paul saying to us here is that it has an effect. It has a negative, ungodly effect upon those who sit under false teachers and who are exposed to their false teaching.

[13:04] And so this morning I want to consider these concluding words of the Apostle Paul as he warns against false teachers and for those who are taking notes, I've organized my thoughts under two headings that they are number one, the profile of false teachers and number two, the product of false teachers.

[13:25] So first, the profile of false teachers. What do false teachers look like? Not so much physically, but what do they look like spiritually?

[13:38] What is their spiritual profile? Well, first of all, the Apostle Paul tells us in verse 1, sorry, in verse 3, he tells us in verse 3 that false teachers teach a different doctrine that they do not agree with the sound words about Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness.

[14:01] He says they deviate from it. They don't agree with it. And when Paul is talking about a different doctrine, he is contrasting what the false teachers teach with apostolic doctrine, the doctrine that the Apostles had received from Christ and certainly he has in view what he's writing at that very moment to Timothy and certainly the other apostolic letters that would have been written up to that point.

[14:29] And Paul is saying to Timothy and to the church, they don't agree with that. They don't agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:40] These are the obvious marks of false teachers. Their doctrine is a departure from the true doctrine. That's a good description of it. It is a departure from the true doctrine.

[14:53] Now, for example, at Paul's day, there were false teachers who were distorting the doctrine of salvation. They were telling people that they had to refrain from marriage or they had to refrain from eating certain foods.

[15:09] And in particular, they were telling people that faith in Christ was not enough. they needed to do some other things.

[15:23] And really, the false teaching that Paul is addressing was not confined just to his day. The truth is, it's also part of our day. But the difference is, in Paul's day, most of the false teaching had a personal face.

[15:36] It was an individual or some individuals in the church or outside of the church who made their way around to churches, but it wasn't organized. And by that I mean it was not under some denominational banner.

[15:49] They were not structured at that time. But over time, as individuals came together and as they grew in number in terms of those who held on to those views, they began to band themselves under certain banners.

[16:04] And certainly, in our day-to-day, whole denominations are given to false teaching and are run and organized by false teachers.

[16:19] Now, false teaching comes in different forms and in different shades, but here's the worst form of false teaching. The worst form of false teaching is false teaching that distorts the gospel.

[16:33] And what you find when you read in the New Testament letters, you find the most severe rebuke reserved for those who distort the gospel.

[16:50] Those who are immoral are rebuked. Those who are divisive are rebuked, but the rebuke is nothing there what you find when someone distorts the gospel of the grace of God.

[17:06] There's a special rebuke that we see reserved for those individuals. And so in Paul's day, there were those who were saying, you have to keep the law to be saved.

[17:17] You have to not only believe in Christ, but you have to be circumcised as well, and you can't eat these particular foods. And Paul strongly rebukes those who taught that.

[17:33] I want to say that in our day, little has changed except we probably don't see these individuals in terms of faces as much, although there are individual faces out there.

[17:48] Largely now, I think it's organizational, it is structured in broader ways, and in some ways that some of us are not even aware of. Let me give an example of what I'm referring to.

[18:01] I want to read to you the official teaching of one of the largest, if not the largest, Christian denomination in the world that contradicts and departs from the teaching of salvation, which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

[18:27] Listen to what the official teaching of this church says. about being saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. If anyone shall say that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins to the exclusion of grace and charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and remains in them, or even that grace by which we are justified is only the favor of God, let him be anathema.

[19:15] That's a kind of long statement and the language is a bit archaic and a bit cumbersome and it's easy to miss the point that is being communicated.

[19:27] So let let me paraphrase what it says. It's what it says in a very faithful paraphrase. If anyone says that men are made righteous solely by the righteousness of Christ being credited to them or by having had their sins forgiven without the Holy Spirit imparting righteousness to them and actually making them righteous together with good works or that we by grace are justified and made righteous that it's only the favor of God let him be accursed.

[20:19] That's what it is saying. It is saying that anyone who says that this righteousness of Christ is only credited to someone's account that it is not imparted to them to make them righteous in and of themselves and it's separate from good works and that the grace of God is the sole basis upon which they are made righteous let him be accursed.

[20:51] That's what it's taught by one of the largest Christian denominations in the world and certainly in this country.

[21:07] And here what is at stake is two kinds of righteousness and this brothers and sisters was the issue at the heart of the Protestant Reformation when it started in 1517.

[21:24] This was the issue. Two kinds of righteousness. Imputed righteousness meaning it is righteousness away from us that's put in our account by somebody else.

[21:37] It's a righteousness that's on the merit of another or imparted righteousness meaning that we in and of ourselves are righteous and that that is the basis upon which God accepts us.

[21:52] The reformers said no. The reformers said we have no righteousness. We can never be righteous and we are only righteous through the righteousness of Jesus Christ which he purchased for sinners on the cross.

[22:06] God credits that to sinners and God on the basis of that accepts unrighteous people and calls them righteous. But the established church at the time said no.

[22:21] God only accepts you when you become righteous. When you are righteous and you do good works. It is not by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

[22:33] Martin Luther called the righteousness upon which God accepts us an alien righteousness because it's not a part of anything that we can do. or we deserve.

[22:46] Here's another part of what this particular denomination teaches. This one is even plainer than the first one. If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy which remits sin for Christ's sake or that it is this confidence alone that justifies let him be anathema and that means let him be accursed.

[23:19] So if you say that faith saving faith and nothing else in divine mercy from God through Jesus Christ is the only basis that we can be saved and accepted and justified in God's sight God's This church says anathema.

[23:42] If you stand on that, they would say no, you need good works and you need water baptism and you need to be righteous for God to accept you.

[23:54] And I believe that all of us should see the dilemma because if we know ourselves and we are true to ourselves we know we can never be righteous in and of ourselves in the sight of a holy all-knowing God who knows everything about us who knows us better than we know ourselves our dilemma is our own consciences will condemn us.

[24:19] But what we hold precious this morning, what we hold precious that we don't have to depend on our own righteousness to be accepted by Christ, there is a group that says anathema if you believe that.

[24:35] Some of you may be wondering who that denomination is that I'm referring to and I will refer to that denomination a little later in the sermon but let's move on to another aspect of the profile of false teachers.

[24:48] At this point it's enough to say that they're teaching at best the best description is it is a departure from the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness.

[25:06] Paul goes further in verse 4 he tells us that the false teacher is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. In other words the false teacher is arrogant he's puffed up and he's also ignorant he doesn't know anything he doesn't understand anything.

[25:25] His arrogance is his departure from apostolic doctrine his departure from that which is sound and safe taught by Christ and received by the apostles he departs from that and his ignorance is proved by the fact that he's teaching something contrary.

[25:44] Paul says in addition he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words. Now largely I think Paul was describing the profile of the false teacher that was predominant in the church at Ephesus and in the churches that he was responsible for.

[26:06] I don't think he gives us a complete exhaustive profile of the false teachers. Sometimes they're very nice and sometimes they're very likable and very personable and very charismatic and they'll avoid controversy and avoid quarrels as much as they can avoid it because to some extent preaching the gospel does invite some degree of controversy.

[26:39] But Paul gives us a sufficient description, a sufficient profile of these false teachers. So here's how we can summarize the profile of the false teachers.

[26:52] In a sense they are spiritual mavericks who are not content to tell the old story. They want to tell a new story. They want to depart from the old story. Perhaps people are bored with that.

[27:05] That's no longer appealing to people. So they depart from that and they tell people that the God of the universe whom they worship is not really who they think he is or like they think he is and that the Bible doesn't really mean what they think it means.

[27:22] And so they come up with doctrines like multiple ways for salvation and that God is too merciful to send people to hell so in the end love will win. And they depart from the old story and they teach that man's biggest problem is not sin it is poor self-esteem and that Jesus died so we can have our best life now.

[27:47] And this departure from the old story enables them to say that homosexual practice is not sinful as long as it is in the context of a committed relationship and therefore homosexual marriage is okay.

[28:05] Have you noticed they are quite eager to debate those who hold to the old story more than those who hold to the old story are interested in debating them.

[28:19] That's a picture in a particular a modern picture of the false teacher and his false teaching. But there's one more aspect that the apostle Paul addresses and it's easy to miss because it is separated from the first set of descriptions that he gives about false teachers.

[28:41] It is found in the last clause of verse 5. Look at that last clause in verse 5 right to the end. The words are imagining that godliness is a means to gain.

[28:56] Imagining that godliness is a means to gain. By gain is meant material or financial gain. Paul says that's one of the other aspects of what the false teacher looks like.

[29:08] It's a part of what motivates him. He views godliness. He views this road that we're supposed to be on as a means to gain.

[29:20] There's material or financial gain at the end of the road for him. That's what he has in view. Now, the sentence is a bit complex and it's easy to wonder whether what I'm saying refers to the false teachers or it refers to the people when you look at how the sentence is worded.

[29:45] But let's look at it again and I'll try to show how these words imagine that godliness is a means of gain is connected to the false teacher and not to the people.

[29:59] So here's how it really reads when you disembowel part of the sentence and it doesn't do violence to it to do that. It would read this way. If anyone teaches, starting in verse 3, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

[30:26] He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce which sorry let me go back.

[30:42] He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words. Then jump down to the last clause in verse 5.

[30:54] Imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Now why do I say that? If you notice when you get to the point where it says he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, you're now getting into another part of the sentence where it starts with which where it says which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.

[31:31] That's the part of the sentence that is attached to that clause which, that part of the sentence that which introduces, but the latter part goes back to talking about the false teacher himself.

[31:47] I hope that is made clear and certainly not less clear by making that particular point. So brothers and sisters, false teachers were real in Paul's day and they are real in our day and so this is a sober reminder for us about false teachers.

[32:11] Now I find that it is somewhat interesting that Paul does not name any of the false teachers although early in the letter he does name two of them but at this particular point he doesn't name them and the reason is he doesn't need to name them because he uses this all-encompassing word anyone.

[32:28] He says if anyone teaches this doesn't need to label them he simply says if anyone teaches this it is a universal word if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness he's a false teacher.

[32:50] He is a false teacher. Now let me share with you two problems that many people face who sit in churches under false well who sit in gospel churches in faithful gospel preaching churches but are not discerning enough and sometimes will listen to and expose themselves to false teachers.

[33:23] here's the dilemma for many people who find themselves in that situation. They're part of faithful churches but they give an air to false teachers.

[33:36] The first is biblical illiteracy and doctrinal ignorance. It's the first problem. Some people sadly who sit in bible believing churches bible preaching churches they cannot identify false teachers and false teaching.

[33:57] Some of the things they should condemn they say amen to and they share them with friends on social media and through other means because they're biblically illiterate and because they are doctrinally ignorant.

[34:13] And there's this view that everyone who stands in front of a church like I am doing this morning and opens a bible you just listen to without any discernment. That every group of people gathered as we are gathered this morning and singing songs and doing the other things we do that we must be a church a true church and brothers and sisters it is not the case at all.

[34:38] Now while some of the blame for this state of affairs belongs to the feet of pastors like me some of it does I want to say this one that the lion's share of the blame rests with the people themselves people who do not see it as their own responsibility to open God's word and to take seriously this call upon them to be followers of Christ and to be disciples of Jesus Christ and not taking seriously God's word and its place in their lives it's kind of like the student who just shows up to school just shows up but not really intent on learning not really intent on receiving and growing just shows up and on a morning like this morning even when we gather as brothers and sisters in Christ our hearts need to be postured with an attitude that this is our very life and that we want to receive the word of God in our minds and in our souls so that we might be able to grow and I believe this lack of intentionality is at the root of this biblical illiteracy and this doctrinal ignorance that we see in so many churches that causes people to listen to and to accept false teaching and believe that it is okay that's the first problem the second problem is spiritual seduction by false teachers remember when we looked at chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 we saw that there is demonic activity behind false teachers there's

[36:28] Paul calls it doctrines of demons he says that stuff doesn't just originate in thin air or from these individuals behind them is demonic deception so false teachers are able to appeal to and draw into their message those who listen to them and some do it better than others and it is hard to reject the message of someone when you're enthralled with them you can't reject the message of a messenger with whom you are enthralled so people sit around and they listen to false teachers for no other reason than they simply like them or they know them or they think they know them and they're not as bad as other people say they are they can be as bad as other people say they are look at them he's harmless he's a nice guy and for those of you who are still wondering about the denomination that I referred to earlier that rejects the biblical doctrine of how people are saved that denomination is the

[37:44] Roman Catholic Church and what I read is verbatim the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church if you were to survey people sitting in the Roman Catholic Church largely they don't even know that when you're ignorant of that it certainly comes through in the preaching and in the life of the church but in a very plain and straightforward manner like that very few would be aware of it now this does not mean that Roman Catholic churches don't do good work it doesn't mean that it's wrong to attend a Roman Catholic school it doesn't mean that there are no Christians in Roman Catholic churches I'm convinced that there are many but what I also am convinced about is that they did not come to Christ based on the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church they cannot they came to Christ away from that doctrine and for any number of reasons they are still in the Roman

[38:53] Catholic Church but brothers and sisters today I would argue that our biggest danger when it comes to the distortion of the doctrine of salvation and how people are saved how God accepts sinners and justifies sinners while there are some personal individuals who distort that I would say by and large it is an organizational distortion and so we must be aware of this we must be soberly aware of this so I want to ask you this morning as we consider this issue of false teaching and false teachers what's your attitude towards false teachers and their false teachings how biblically grounded and how doctrinally discerning are you as it relates to what you listen to and who you listen to are you aware of what is at stake when you expose yourself to false teachers and to false teachings teachings and sometimes it's almost like it is what I would call sitting in a room and somebody has the flu and you don't know it and whether you know it or not you're picking up that virus just because you're exposed to it and so much is true of false teaching as well and false teachers that we come under the virus of that and we are affected by it and so we must not think that it is some harmless activity and that we are mature enough to be able to discern to reject this and to accept that there's no need to have to sort between error and truth with anyone else and

[41:05] I would even argue that what some would think is truth is really not truth these important questions for all of us to consider this morning because false teachers and false teaching do have an effect on those who sit under them and it's an ungodly effect which brings me to my second and final point the product of false teachers look at the final clause in verse four that begins with the word which begins with the word which it says here's what it produces which produce envy dissension slander evil suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth imagining that godliness is a means of gain

[42:10] Paul tells us what the false teachers produce they they produce in one word ungodliness they produce ungodliness in the lives of the people who are exposed to them in all the different shades and forms ungodliness is the result of those who sit under and exposed to false teaching in his second letter to Timothy Paul warns Timothy in his second letter 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 3 through 4 he says this to him he says for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching airs they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths friends this is happening today many of the teachers they have accumulated to themselves and these individuals are suiting their passions they are speaking to their passions they have itching airs and these individuals will scratch their ears in a way that they want them to and there's a mutual arrangement and the result is they will turn away from listening to the truth and they will wander off into myths and this explains why so many sit under false teachers again the context is very clear this is the visible church among those who profess to be followers of

[44:02] Christ and be able to see the effect among people and what is what is particularly concerning when we consider this is Paul actually makes the point that these who are listening to the false teachers in short he's saying they're not believers and see I'm not saying that every single person who has ever listened to a false teacher is an unbeliever not saying that at all I don't think Paul is saying that I think he's talking about those who are wholesale giving themselves to this and the ones who are truly captured under the teaching of these false teachers he's saying they are depraved in mind and they are deprived of the truth but we would acknowledge and I think you would agree that there are believers who do listen to false teachers who do listen to false teaching and what they do is they put themselves under a cloud of doubt as to whether they are true believers not that they're not true believers but when you position yourself to be like these whom the apostle

[45:25] Paul says they're depraved in their mind and they are deprived of the truth that's not the description of a believer that's the description of an unbeliever so when we position ourselves in that way we put a big question mark over our heads and we say or others may say well where do you stand see the question mark is removed when we hold to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness the teaching that produces godliness in our lives not ungodliness Paul is addressing the visible church because many of these are in the visible church but he's not here talking about believers he's talking about unbelievers who are captured by these false teachers and it doesn't matter how intelligent they are it does not matter how well mannered they are it does not matter how well dressed they are if they give heed to false teachers and to their false teaching and they're captivated by them and captured by them they are depraved in mind and they are deprived of the truth they don't know the sound words of a

[46:43] Lord Jesus Christ and this is why many are able to sit unashamedly under and in support of false teachers and so brothers and sisters these words as Paul winds this letter down as he begins to conclude this letter these words serve as a sober reminder to us that listening to false teachers is not a harmless activity nor are they guiltless men and anyone who professes to know Christ and who willingly listens to someone known to preach error really you're arrogant and ignorant of the spiritual danger that you expose yourself to as I thought about the warnings in these three verses

[47:51] I was aware that today on a Sunday is probably the greatest temptation to engage in exactly what we are being warned about we have open afternoons and many of us have cable services that beam in dozens of offerings and channels where any number of individuals are parading across the screen and we know nothing about them in terms of their personal lives beyond just the name and the message that they proclaim we must be so careful you see we're sinful in and of ourselves the Bible says our hearts are deceptive we can't even know our own hearts and how easily we can be seduced and how easily we can be deritched by that which entices us and that which scratches the itch that we may have brothers and sisters

[49:00] Christ is enough Christ is enough and sometimes we find ourselves in seasons of spiritual restlessness and we think we want something else no what we want is Christ what we need in that moment is Christ we don't need to turn the TV on and to flip the channel for that hunger in our souls that desire we need to pull away and be with Christ or certainly I'm not saying that every single thing on television is to be rejected I'm sure there are good faithful ministries on television and I say take advantage of them avail yourself of them enjoy them but let us be discerning and when we hear that which does not accord with sound doctrine have the courage to turn the channel or turn the TV off altogether and why should we do this why should we so radical to do this simply because false teachers and their false teachings have an ungodly effect on our lives and it may not manifest exactly in the tumultuous divisive conduct that we see Paul describing perhaps those were conducts that were unique to the church at Ephesus but friend nothing good comes out of listening to false teachers our passion for Christ is not going to increase our passion for missions is not going to increase our passion for godliness is not going to increase we need god to help us while this is a concern this morning it will be an increasing concern in the days ahead let's pray