A man that is an heretic. Now that is a scriptural term.
And this is a scary thought, this thing of being a heretic. The word should never be used
lightly. When someone is guilty of being
a heretic, that's the worst thing you could say about them. That
person has rejected the gospel. We should never use this word
loosely. We should never be on a witch
hunt looking for heretics. But here, God the Holy Spirit
says, through Paul, a man that is an heretic, after the first
and second admonition, reject. And that word means avoid. Doesn't
mean burn him at the stake. It doesn't mean put them on trial. It means to avoid them. And we're going to see that from
the scripture. Now in verse nine, Paul said, but avoid foolish
questions and genealogies and contentions, arguments, and strivings
about the law. Avoid that, they are unprofitable
and vain." And then he makes this statement, a man that is
an heretic. After the first admonition, reject
him, avoid him, stay away from him, knowing that he that is
such is subverted or perverted and sinneth. I hold a position
that is contrary to the Word of God, it is sin. That is the motive behind it.
It's not merely an intellectual problem, it's a sinful disposition
toward the Word of God. And notice he says being condemned
of himself. We're not condemning him, he
condemned himself. Have you ever heard people don't
get fired from jobs generally. They fire themselves by their
way of acting. And this is what Paul says about
the heretic. He says he is perverted. That's
strong language. What he's doing is sinful and
he is condemned of himself. Now, what is a heretic? Well,
a heretic, and it's a scriptural word, And I would want to handle
this very carefully. A heretic is one who is guilty
of heresy. Now, what is heresy? This is
so interesting. We looked at this a couple of
weeks ago out of 1 Corinthians 11. Heresy means to choose. It is a choosing. You choose to believe that which
is not true. Now, you don't Choose to believe
the truth. You believe the truth because it's true. And you know
it's true. And you believe it's true. That's
why you believe. You don't choose to believe.
I didn't choose to believe the gospel. God gave me faith and
I believed. A heretic is one who's guilty
of heresy, of choosing anything that is contrary to the word
of God that you choose to believe. If I believe That which is false,
there is a choice involved. I choose to believe error. Now
notice he says a heretic after the first and second admonition
reject. This is two warnings. And I can
show you in scriptures where believers went into a heretical
way. And they were confronted. Think
of Peter in Galatians chapter two when he switched tables and
Paul confronted him about that. What did he do? He bowed to what
Paul said. He saw what was true. A man can,
I can, you can, go in the wrong direction. We're sheep, easily
led astray, and we can easily do the wrong thing. But a heretic
after the first and second admonition, reject him, avoid him. Now, a
heretical doctrine is a doctrine that seeks to undermine the faith. Now, let me repeat that. A heretical
doctrine is a doctrine that seeks to undermine the faith. You're in first John four, where
Paul was reading. Would you turn with me there
for back there? First John chapter four, look at the first of the
chapter. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
believe not every preacher, believe not everybody who says they speak
for God. Don't believe it automatically,
but try the spirits, test the spirits, whether they are of
God because many false prophets, not just a few, many false prophets
are gone out into the world hereby know ye the Spirit of God every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit
of antichrist." Now that's strong language, isn't it? And this
is language inspired by God the Holy Spirit. That's that spirit
of antichrist, where if you heard that it should come, and even
now already is it in the world. Look in 2 John, just a page over,
verse seven. John says, for many deceivers
are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh. Now, hold on for a second. In
that confession, we have the whole gospel. Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh. I love the simplicity of that.
That means he was before he came. That means he came in the flesh.
God was manifest in the flesh and whatever was he intended
to do, he did. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now the whole
gospel is in that statement and somebody that doesn't confess
that. This is a deceiver, verse seven, and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we've wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house.
Neither bid him Godspeed. In 1 Corinthians 11 verse 19,
Paul said, there must be heresies among you, that they which are
approved might be made manifest. Now God's in control of these
heresies. And actually he uses them for the good of his church.
We're going to see that in just a moment, but turn with me to
Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy chapter 13, if there
arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other
gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them. He performs
a miracle. He says, this is gonna happen,
it does. and he speaks of serving another God that is not the God
of the Bible. Thou shalt not, verse 3, thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. You shall walk after the Lord
your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his
voice. And you shall serve him and cleave unto him. And that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because
he hath spoken to you to turn away from the Lord your God,
which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you
out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way
which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk. So shalt thou put
evil away from the midst of thee. Now, if I would look at one scripture
that I think exposes what heresy is, it would be found in second
Corinthians chapter 11. I would like you to turn there.
Second Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says in verse two, for I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,
but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled, deceived
Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity, the onlyness
that's in Christ. Jesus only, the only ground of
my salvation. Christ only, the very image,
express image of God. Christ only, the object of our
faith. Christ only the surety, Christ
only his sacrifice, Christ only the simplicity that's in Christ.
You know, my hope is real simple, Christ alone. That's really very
simple. Paul put it this way, which is
saying the same thing in Colossians chapter three, verse 11, Christ
is all in my salvation. Christ is all, all that God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. And any teaching or preaching
or innuendo that takes away from the simplicity, the onlyness
that's in Christ. Christ only is all my salvation. Christ only is all my righteousness. Christ only is all my redemption.
The simplicity, the singularity, Christ alone. Now, anything that
calls that into question, that covers that, I don't care how
subtle the language is, it is heretical. It is heresy. Now, when the Lord exhorted,
us to enter in the straight gate. And I love that exhortation,
enter in the straight gate. It's so straight, it's so narrow
that if you have anything other than Christ, you can't get through. I hope you and I understand that.
That's the simplicity that's in Christ, that's Christ alone.
If you have any works that you're trying to bring with you, You
can't get through. You look to Christ alone. Now, when the Lord said, enter
ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction. Many there be that go in there,
but straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads
to life and few there be that find it. Anybody know what the
next thing he said was? Beware of false prophets. First thing he said, which come
to you in sheep's clothing. They look like sheep. They talk
like sheep. They act like sheep. You look
at them, it's a sheep. But inwardly, they are ravening
wolves, seeking to corrupt me and you from the simplicity that's
in Christ, our heretic. He will Make the way broader
than it is. He'll make the road wider than
it is. Seeking to corrupt us from the
simplicity that's in Christ. And there's always a sinister
motive behind it. And I want us to see how big
this is in the scripture. And I'm gonna ask you to turn
to several scriptures. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Verse one. And certain men, which came down
from Judea. Now that's talking about the
church in Jerusalem. You know, the pastor of that church was
the Lord's brother. That's an awesome thing to think about,
isn't it? This was a very large church, a true church. And certain
men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said,
except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot
be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with him, there was an argument
that took place. They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain
others of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and
elders about this question. And when he gets there, he says
in verse 5, there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees
which believed saying that it was needful to circumcise them
and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Now, true, you're
saved by faith, but you need to be circumcised and you need
to keep the law. Now, the Lord always brings good
out of evil. Look in verse 7. And when there
had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men
and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice
among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
to us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt ye
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? This is what we got
out of this. These men bringing up this heresy, we've got this
clear, distinct statement of faith. We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they. They're not gonna be saved like
us. We're gonna be saved like them. And through this conflict,
We're given this great statement of faith, as always, God brings
good out of evil. Look in Acts chapter 20, verse 28. These are the words
of Paul. He says this to the Ephesian elders, take heed therefore
unto yourselves and all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost
has made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he has
purchased with his own blood. For 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. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone,
night and day with tears." Now there's some kind of admonition
about this in every single book in the New Testament. When Paul ends the letter to the Romans,
he says, mark them, mark them, which cause divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine you've received and avoid them. Mark them and avoid them. Don't give them ear, for they
that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly,
and by good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the
simple. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17,
when Paul said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel, then he added this, not with wisdom of words. lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect." Now what that means is nobody will
be saved through that preaching, not with wisdom of words. Now
what's that? Trying to remove the offense from the cross, trying
to make it, market it, make it more appealing and less offensive.
If I do that, I've made the cross of Christ of none effect. Second Corinthians, we've already
looked at a passage there, but turn with me to Galatians. I'm
just going to go through, I want to read you these, show you how
big this is in the scripture. Galatians one, beginning in verse
six. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ.
unto another gospel. Now somebody influenced them
in this. And Paul says, which is not another,
but there'd be some that trouble you and would pervert, would
change 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 damned, accursed, sent to hell. Now, in case anybody didn't hear
me, verse 9, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that which you received,
let him be anathematized, damned. Now, Paul loved the souls of
men, but yet he says this about somebody who would change the
gospel. Now, we have a beautiful illustration,
Galatians chapter 2, of a man who went in the wrong direction,
Peter. Peter is sitting at the table
with the Gentiles, fellowshipping with them, having a good time,
enjoying their company. And all of a sudden, certain
from James, the church in Jerusalem come in. And Peter knows that
these men will disapprove of him eating with the Gentiles.
So without saying a word, he gets up and moves tables and
sits with the Jews. Without a word, he compromised
the gospel. He said, you're a little bit
more pleasing to God. You're a little bit more acceptable.
You're a little bit more saved in endorsing this Jewish stuff
than like the Gentiles. And Paul publicly rebuked him. and said, what you're doing is
hypocrisy, that the truth of the gospel might continue with
you. You see, what Peter was doing
at this time, he was being corrupted from the simplicity that's in
Christ. He was saying, you're a little bit better off being
at this Jewish table. And that is what Paul rebuked
him for. Look in Galatians chapter five,
stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, you
can forget Christ. If you think there's anything
you do, I don't care what it is, that is going to aid in your
salvation, you can forget Christ. For I testify again to every
man that's circumcised, that he's a debtor to do the whole
lot If you're going to go that route, you have to have perfect
obedience to the whole law personally in yourself. Christ has become
of no effect unto you. Whosoever you are justified by
law, you've fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh by love. You did run well. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion that
you have come not of him to call with you, a little leaven leavens
the whole lump. So we see how much of this is
in the book of Galatians, in the book of Ephesians. The next
book in the Bible, Paul warned the church of being tossed. This
is Ephesians 4, 13. He warned of being tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the
slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And he said in Ephesians chapter
six, verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be
able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. You see it
as the devil who inspires the heretic. This is him at work. Paul warned the Philippians in
Philippians chapter three, verse two, beware of dogs. Look at
the way he speaks of it. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. And he's talking about preachers.
Beware of the concision. He even makes a new word. They
talk, you need to be circumcised. All they are is mutilators. Beware
of them. He said in The same chapter, chapter 3,
he said, many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you
even weeping that they're enemies of the cross of Christ. Well, that's a strong language,
isn't it? Enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory
is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Paul said to the Colossians,
beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. Beware, lest
you be spoiled by the doctrines of men. In Paul's warning to
the Thessalonians, he said, Be not soon shaken in minor trouble.
Let no man deceive you by any means. He's talking about false
prophets. He said in second Thessalonians,
even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that believe not. Them that perish
because they receive not the love of the truth. that they
might be saved. He said in 1 Timothy 4, now the
Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and
doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy. Can you believe
my wife did that? And then in 2nd Timothy, he even
named them by names. I'm going through all the epistles
of Paul. And in every one, there's this warning of this heretic,
this heresy, this choosing. And he says, avoid them after
the first and second admonition, avoid them. Hebrews is a series
of warnings against apostasy, which always begins with false
doctrine. James warns us about if any man
seems to be religious, but bridles not his tongue, but boasts of
his works, boasts of his whatever, he deceives himself. It's not
true. 1st and 2nd Peter, there's so
many references, a whole 2nd chapter of 2nd Peter is devoted
to beware of these false prophets who bring, he says, damnable
heresies. Jude 4, I'd like you to look
at this one, Jude 4. We've already gone over John's,
right before the book of Revelation. Verse three, beloved, when I
gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered to the saints. Four, there are certain men crept
in, unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
I think this is interesting. Your average preacher would say,
these are fellows who say grace, they say you can sin all you
want because salvation's by grace. We can lead a lascivious life
and it's of no consequence since salvation's by grace. Now do
you know anybody that's actually saying that? I might have come across one
or two in my 45 years as a preacher. The word turning the grace of
God into lasciviousness is the word translate. Translating the
grace of God into lasciviousness. And here's what this means. These
men say, why, if you believe in absolute grace, free grace,
that'll encourage sin. That'll cause people to live
lascivious lives. That is a false prophet trying
to take the edge off the truth, trying to say that will lead
to sin. What about the book of Revelation?
How many references there are to the beast and the false prophet
and the religion of Babylon? And how does Satan speak to destroy
the church? In Revelation 12, he opened his
mouth. Out of his mouth came false doctrine. That's how he seeked to destroy
the church. And then Revelation chapter 13,
verse 11, he looked like a lamb. Speaking of the beast, he looked
like a lamb. And he spake as a dragon. A man that is an heretic, reject,
avoid because of what is behind his false doctrine, whether he's
conscious of it or not, Satan is the one who is driving him,
seeking to drive you away from Christ. Now, Satan doesn't know
if you're one of the elect. If he knew you were one of the
elect, for sure, he wouldn't bother with you. He'd know there's
no point. But he doesn't know who God's
elect are. And he is always going to seek everybody where the truth
is preached. Now, where error is preached, it's okay. But where
the truth is preached, he's always going to seek to water it down
and bring in false doctrine. A man that is a heretic, after
the first and second admonition, reject. Now, here's my question. How can I have the discernment? to know if what I'm hearing is
the truth. I want that, don't you? As a
matter of fact, I don't know how many times I've seen when
people go bad, it begins with a lack of discernment, a lack
of being able to tell the difference. How can I have the discernment. You know, we don't use this word
loosely, heretic. This is not about a witch hunt
looking for heretics. This is not just calling somebody
a heretic all the time because that's the worst thing you can
call them. So how can I know when something is heresy? You
know, whenever the truth is preached, there will be a counterfeit right
behind it. You can be sure of that. How can I know if something
is heretical? How can I know if I'm listening
to a heretic? When I was 21 years old, I got
a job in a bank as a bank teller. And let me tell you right off
the bat, it's the only job I've ever been fired from. I couldn't stay in
balance. I did everything wrong. You know,
they ended up, after I got audited the first time, they said, look,
we like you, but you need to find something else to do. This
is not your thing. I said, I get it. I agree. But during this
training, and I remember we trained about a month before we got put
out on the line, a lot of that training was about how to no counterfeits. And they showed
all these different counterfeit dollars and you could see they
were different. But which one was right. Well
here's the way we trained. You become completely familiar
with and know what a good bill looks like. You'll know the fiber
you'll know the kind of ink you'll know the kind of paper you become
completely observant to where you know what a real bill looks
like. And when you know what a real
bill looks like the counterfeits you can see and it's true. It's
not studying the counterfeits. It's studying that which is true. And so how can I be kept from
following the message of a heretic? Because if I follow the message
of a heretic, I'm going to have his end. That's how serious this
is. If I'm led away from the gospel,
I'm going to have the end of the false prophet or the heretic
that I've called upon to look at. So how can I discern? How can I know? by being completely
familiar with the true gospel. Now, in closing, turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. Now that piques my interest,
doesn't it? Paul's gonna tell us what the gospel is. This is
what I must be familiar with if I'm going to understand anything
else, if I'm going to be able to discern. He said, it's the
gospel which I preached unto you. It's the first gospel you
ever heard and I've not changed, which also you have received.
and wherein you stand, by which also you're saved, if you keep
in memory what I preached unto you, if you persevere in this,
unless you've believed in vain, for I delivered unto you, first
of all, of first importance, that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. But after that he was
seen of five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After
that he was seen of James, and of all the apostles, and last
of all he was seen of me, As of one born out of due time,
for I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the
grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with
me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so
you believe. Now, I've heard people take this
passage of scripture and say, here's the gospel. You believe
in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Well,
I do believe in the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ. But that's not what he says. It says how that. Christ died for our sins. Who's the our? It's every believer. He didn't die for the sins of
the world. He died for our sins. according to the scriptures. Now he's talking about the Old
Testament scriptures and there are so many examples of how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Let me give
you this one. God said, take a lamb, watch
it for 14 days, make sure it's a perfect lamb, a lamb without
blemish and without spot. and kill it and put the blood
of that lamb over the doorposts of the house and God said, when
I see the blood I will pass over you. Now that is one example
of how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It's seen so clearly in what
God said. He didn't say, when you see the blood. As a matter
of fact, if you were in the house, you couldn't see it, could you?
He said, when I see the blood. He didn't say, when I see your
faith. He didn't say, when I see your
changed life. He didn't say, when I see the
evidence that you give that you're saved. He didn't say, when I
see your knowledge and your understanding and your doctrine. He said, when I see the blood,
that is all he was looking for. When I see the blood, God says,
I will pass over you. Wherever God saw blood, there
was salvation. Now, any doctrine that calls
any of that into question is heretical. That's what heresy
is. Anything that diminishes from
the complete salvation that's in Christ, anything that diminishes
from the person and work of Christ, anything that causes you to look
away from Him to yourself is heretical. And you and I are
always going to be faced, first from the unbelief of ourself,
and then the help of heretics, we're always going to be tempted
to look away from Christ. May God give us this discernment
of the gospel, who Christ is, what he accomplished, the salvation
of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. May we have
such a familiarity, and I'm not talking about a familiarity in
the bad sense, but I mean just an understanding of the gospel
that makes us see when it's not being preached. A man that is
a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject him,
avoid him. For he that is such is perverted. It's evil. And he sinneth. This is not just an intellectual
problem. It's a sin problem. And he condemned himself. May
the Lord give us grace to do what he says with regard to this.
Let's pray. Lord, we know that you're in
control of everything, of everybody. And Lord, you said in your word,
there must needs be heresies among you, that they which are
approved might be made manifest. And Lord, we fear our choice. We fear believing
what we choose to believe. Lord, we ask that you would save
us, and that you would reveal Christ to us, and that you would
teach us your gospel, and that you would give us the discernment
to know when it's not the gospel. Lord, we give thanks to know
that you're in control of all this, and everything that takes
place is for the good of your people, those who love you, those
who are called according to your purpose. We're so thankful for that. I
bless this message for the Lord's sake in his name. We pray. Amen. Rich.