INTRO>In the frigid waters around Greenland are countless icebergs, some little and some gigantic. If you observe them carefully and over time, you’ll notice that sometimes the small ice floes move in one direction while the huge masses of ice flow in another. The explanation is simple: surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the huge masses of ice are carried along by deep ocean currents.
<>You see, the same is true in our lives...those things that are not grounded deep can be moved along by surface matters, “winds” that are changing. In no area is that most easily seen as in the area of what is presented to us as doctrine, but is, in fact, an ill wind...that which is not grounded in God’s Word.**
I invite you to open a Bible again to Ephesians, chapter 4.
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--In 1937, Margaret Mitchell wrote her only book, but it won the Pulitzer Prize that year, and two years later, in 1939 it was made into an Academy Award winning movie by the same name, "Gone With the Wind." Set in the old South around the time of Reconstruction, the movie established new parameters in moviedom, including the first instance of profanity allowed in a feature film. The plot involves the unfolding lives of Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable, and Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivian Lea. It is a movie about how things can change, and how old ways seem to be Gone With the Wind.
<>The key passage of Scripture I want us to focus on today is Ephesians 4:14-15, where Paul warns us about falling for the “changing winds” of false doctrine.
--Let’s read it again: "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ."
<>False doctrine can ultimately be traced to a wrong understanding of God...of His nature, His Divinity, and His work.
---ILL>A dad was being pestered by his daughter while he was trying to read the newspaper. So he took one page of the stock report page and cut it into 100 pieces and gave it to his daughter, along with some scotch tape, and instructed her to tape the page back together again as a puzzle. She went scurrying off to her task, and dad relaxed, confident that the task was too big, the stock report page would be too difficult a challenge to reconstruct. However, after only a few moments, the daughter brought back the page, rightly taped together. He was astonished! He must be raising a genius! Then she explained to him how she did it... “You see, daddy, on the back of the paper was the picture of a man, and when I got the picture of the man right, then the rest of it was right too.”
--That’s it! When we get the “picture” of God right, the rest of doctrine falls into place too.
<>It should not come as a big surprise, then, to note that false teaching will err on a right understanding of the nature of God and the right idea of what it means to truly be worshiping God.
--You see, Satan has always been up to the same single task: trying to divert attention away from God, and to himself instead.
---It is Satan, Scripture tells us, who is the author of confusion.
---And it is false teaching that lights the fire of confusion...even among believers if we don’t learn to “test the spirits” and learn to “rightly divide” the Word of God.
<>Today’s message is in 2 parts: How we can detect false doctrine, and how we can avoid it...
I. HOW FALSE DOCTRINE CAN BE DETECTED / IDENTIFIED...
--If any one or more of these conditions exist, mark it down...it’s an ill wind, a false teaching.
1) IT IS FALSE IF IT DEFIES THE HEART OF THE FATHER.
--1Jn.4:8 -- "...God is love."
->When Hyper-Calvinists declare that God has appointed just a few and sends the rest of the people He created to hell BY HIS CHOICE, that is in opposition to His heart.
---2Pet3:9 -- God is "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."
->When theists advocate the idea of an impersonal Creator, a “spirit in the sky,” an uninvolved Deity who merely created everything and then left it to evolve on its own, that’s in opposition to God’s nature.
---2Col.2:17 tells us "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
---In other words, if God was not actively still involved with His creation, it would fall apart!
->When moralists paint God as a benevolent Grandfather, so merciful He’ll never punish, no matter what we do, that is in opposition to God’s character as presented in numerous passages of Scripture.
---Remember, God poured out His wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah, and annihilated both towns because of their sin.
---God poured out (literally) His wrath upon all humanity at the time of Noah and sent a flood that annihilated every living creature except those who were in the ark. Why? Again, because of the sin of man.
---God poured out His wrath on creation at the death of His Son.
-----There was darkness for 3 hours in the middle of the day...an earthquake that tore rocks apart at the moment of His death, accompanied with lightning. Why? Because at that moment Jesus became the sins of man.
---In Romans 1, we’re told that God pours out His wrath on all sin...even to the point of turning people over to the depravity of lust within their hearts that destroys themselves in the process.
->However, when a legalist tells you that God enjoys punishing the wicked, that He is just waiting for an opportunity to throw down lightning bolts on sinners, and delights in destroying all who oppose Him, that is in opposition to Scripture (1 John 4:8) that tells us that "God is love" and again 2 Peter 3:8, that tells us that He doesn’t wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
<>You see, when you examine all of Scripture, you will come to the conclusion that God is holy and pure, that He does judge sin, but He loves sinners.
<>So, if what you’re being presented as “doctrine” doesn’t at all describe the heart of the Father, it is an ill wind.
---Don’t “buy into it,” don’t be taken in...don’t be “gone with the wind” of false doctrine.
2) IT IS FALSE IF IT DENIES THE DEITY OF JESUS.
--Col.2:9 -- "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."
->So, when Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door and try to tell you that Jesus is the greatest man who ever lived, the closest to the Father than any others, but He is merely a man, remind them that’s not what Jesus said about Himself.
---In John 10:30 He said, "I and My Father are one."
---In John 8:58 He said, "Before Abraham was, I am."
---What Jevoah’s Witnesses advocate is not what John 1 says about Jesus: "He (the Word, meaning Jesus) was with God, He was God, and He became flesh and dwelt among us!"
---And it’s not what Col.2:9 says either: "for in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."
---ILL>I’m reminded of the story of a retired military man who was very patriotic. He displayed a tall American flag in his front yard back when it wasn’t a common thing to do. One day he talked with a Jehovah’s Witness and got very upset when he found out Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to serve in the Armed Services, along with refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag. He decided from that time on he would never again listen to a Jehovah’s Witness unless they were willing to salute the flag in his front yard and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Sure enough, one day while sitting in his living room he saw a girl walking up to his front door. When she knocked at the door, he was ready for her. He opened the door but before she could open her mouth he told her, “I’m not going to talk with you or listen to anything you say unless you turn, face that flag, and say the Pledge of Allegiance.” The girl looked confused, but she turned, and said the Pledge. The man was shocked. He turned to the lady, and said, “You know, you’re the first Jehovah’s Witness I have ever met who would salute the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance.” The lady, with a confused look on her face, replied: “Jehovah’s Witness? I’m the Avon lady!”
->When Joseph Smith and Mormonism declare that Jesus was a man who became God, just like and I can become gods too, that’s not what Scripture says. In fact, the order was exactly the other way around! He (the word who was God) became flesh!
->When Ecumenicalists tell you it doesn’t really matter what you believe, so long as you’re sincere, and that all religions lead to the same place, and that we should therefore be tolerant of other “faith systems” because they’re equally “true” to some people, tell them that’s not what Mt.7:13-14 tell us: "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."
---When they tell you that Jesus was indeed a “divine figure,” or a “special light” in His days, but only one of many...same as Muhammad, Confucius, Krishna, Zoraster, Buddha, Nostradamus, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, or (as some would include) Martin Luther King, Ron Hubbard, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Phil, or Oprah, remind them that’s not what Scripture tells us, and that’s not what Jesus said about Himself.
<>You see, Jesus said it does matter what you believe, and that He is not to be confused with or grouped with others.
---He told us in John 14:6 -- "I am the way, the truth, and the light; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
<>So, if it denies or seeks to diminish the stature of Jesus as being fully God, it is an ill wind.
---Don’t be blown away by it, don’t be taken in, don’t be “Gone With the Wind” of false doctrine.
3) IT IS FALSE IF IT DISAGREES WITH THE INSTRUCTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
--2Tim.3:16-17 -- "All Scripture is inspired by God and (is) profitable for teaching, for reproof, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
--Unfortunately, many people are “in the dark” about Who the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost as many refer to Him) is, and what He does.
---ILL>A couple from India came to California and traveled around the state on business. While they were traveling, they left their 11-year old daughter with some Christian friends in California. The friends took the girl to church with them on Sunday morning. When they returned home, the husband asked the girl what she thought of the service. The girl answered, “Well, I don’t understand why the West Coast wasn’t included in the pastor’s blessing.” The couple asked her what she meant, and she replied, “You know, he said, ‘in the name of the Father, the Son, and the whole East Coast.’”
<>It was the Holy Spirit who authored the Bible, who inspired every word. The Bible is “God-breathed” by the Holy Spirit.
-In fact, the Bible is the standard, the final word, on every doctrine.
-Consequently is something disagrees with or contradicts what the Holy Spirit wrote in Scripture, quite simply, it is wrong. It is an ill wind, not the breath of God.
->So, when an abortion advocate says that life doesn’t really begin until birth, and that partial birth abortion doesn’t really kill a human being, that’s not what Ps.139 says when it declares, "for You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb."
---And in Leviticus, the “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” quote doesn’t stop there...it’s in the context of the punishment to be meted out to someone who injured a pregnant woman, causing harm to the unborn fetus. The injurer is to receive the same injury as the fetus: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but then the passage goes on and includes LIFE FOR LIFE.
--->Notice, in order for life to be required to be taken away from the injurer, the fetus had to be a live human being at the time of the injury. That means life begins BEFORE the actual birth, and that death can and does occur in an aborted fetus before it exits the mother’s womb.
->When a mistaken charismatic tells you that speaking in tongues is required to “prove” you are a Christian, that is not what 1Cor.12:20 says, when Paul explains, "All do not have the gift of healings do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they?"
->When someone tells you that you can lose your salvation if you’re really bad, that’s not what John 3:16 and 1John and numerous other passages tell us. It is ETERNAL life, meaning it can’t ever stop. If you lose it, it wasn’t eternal was it? And if it wasn’t eternal, then Jesus lied, because He’s the One who spoke John 3:16, talking with Nicodemus. And, if Jesus could lie, we have no Savior, we have no hope. No, you see, the Bible says what it means and means what it says....your salvation is ETERNAL. If anyone advocates something other than that, it is an ill wind.
<>So, if it disagrees with, or is in conflict with the clear teaching of God’s Word, which was written by the Holy Spirit, it is an ill wind.
---Don’t be blown away by it, don’t be taken in...don’t be “Gone With the Wind” of false doctrine.
Well, it’s one thing to be able to detect false doctrine, it’s another to avoid falling victim to it, so let’s look at part two of this message...
HOW WE CAN AVOID FALLING VICTIM TO THE “ILL WINDS” OF FALSE DOCTRINE...
1) KNOW and LOVE THE LORD.
--Ph.3:10 -- "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;"
<>It’s quite simple, really: the more we know God and love Him, are intimate with Him...the less chance there is that we’ll believer anything false about Him.
---ILL>Do you know why I’ll never believe anyone telling me that Becky loves walking around with a golf bag on her shoulder and playing 18 holes of golf?---It’s because I KNOW HER. I know she wouldn’t be caught dead doing such a thing.
-In the same way, I know God will never “wink” at sin, never “okay” homosexuality or “white lies”....because I know Him.
2) KNOW and STUDY THE WORD.
--2Tim.2:15 -- "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."
<>Simply put, we need to be students of Scripture and know what the Bible really says.
-The reason why any false doctrine, any ill wind is able to fool anyone is because that person is not informed as to what the Bible really says...what God’s love letter and instruction book for life actually teaches us.
-And, unfortunately, I’ve noticed that there is a rampant ignorance of God’s Word, even among many believers.
---ILL>I’m reminded of the pastor who entered into a kids’ Sunday School class, and, attempting to enter into a dialogue with the children, asked, “Boys and girls, who broke down the walls of Jericho?’ Silence followed, but then a boy raised his hand and said, “It wasn’t me, sir.” The pastor turned to the teacher and asked, “Is this the usual behavior in this class?” The teacher replied, “I believe this boy. He’s honest, and I really don’t think he did it.” Leaving the room, the pastor sought out a deacon and explained what had happened. The deacon responded by saying, “Pastor, I have known the boy and the teacher for several years, and neither of them would do such a thing.” By this time the pastor was heartsick and reported the incident to the Christian Education Committee. They replied, “We see no point in making an issue out of this thing. Let’s just pay the bill for the damage to the walls and charge it to maintenance. Anyway, our insurance may even cover it.”
<>In order to have a good Grasp of God’s Word, we need to...
->HEAR it preached, taught.
--Lk.11:20 -- “But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.’”
-READ it as a regular discipline in our lives.
--1Tim.4:13 --“...give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”
--You understand, when Paul gave those instructions to Timothy, the public reading of Scripture was the only kind of reading of Scripture, because almost no one had a personal copy of any of the scrolls. If Paul were giving the same instruction today, he would advocate us reading the Scripture in private as well as hearing it being read in public.
-STUDY it.
--2Tim.2:15 -- “...present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handing the word of truth.”
-MEDITATE on it.
--Ps.1:2 -- “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.”
---This isn’t talking about lighting incense and crossing your legs, chanting, “Ommmmm.” It means stopping and thinking about what it is you just read, what the meaning is, and how it might apply in your own life.
-MEMORIZE it.
--Ps.119:11 -- “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”
-OBEY / PRACTICE it.
--Ja.1:22 -- “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
<>In other words, the better your grasp of God’s Word, the less chance there is that you’ll be tossed around by the ill winds of false doctrine.
BRINGING IT HOME...
The starting place for knowing the truth is meeting and knowing the Author.
-Do you know Him?
If you already know Him, how good is your grasp of His Word?
-Are you going beyond just hearing it to reading it, studying it, meditating on it, memorizing it, and applying it?
<>With all the hot air blowing around, it’s God’s Word that helps insure that we’re never “Gone With the Wind."
