What The Bible Teaches Us About Faith: An Imperative Regarding False Teachers

This is the manuscript of the sermon delivered at Christ Church on January 24, 2021. This is the third sermon in a sermon series "Great Imperatives For Effective Living"

Paul is concerned with false teachers, and he warned the congregation in Philippi, and us today, against the danger of being misled in their and our faith. Paul warns the Philippians, and us today, about the necessity of being on guard against false teaching and false teachers. Paul was afraid that the Philippian congregation would be subjected to the same kind of dangers that he dealt with in his letter to the Galatians.

The Galatians had initially responded to the gospel by faith but later they had become confused and misled by these Judaizers, who caused them to fall away from the way of grace. They added the works of the law to faith as essentials for salvation.

Galatians 3:1‭-‬4 NLT Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

Paul was concerned that the same would happen to the Philippians.

For an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of this manuscript.

To see a video of the entire service click this link https://youtu.be/ZLlZ92AClSU

Scripture Reading:

Philippians 3:2‭-‬11 NLT Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Text:

Philippians 3:2 NLT Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.

Introduction

In this part of his letter to the Philippians Paul is concerned with false teachers, and he warned the congregation in Philippi, and us today, against the danger of being misled in their and our faith. In the verses that follow the text, which we just read, we get the impression that these false teachers were the Judaizers.Judaizers were those who believed that Gentiles must become Jews in order to be Christians. We get that impression because Paul said that these people were saying that you must be circumcised. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and his descendents.

Genesis 17:12‭-‬14 NLT From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

The Judaizers found it very difficult to believe that the Gentiles were included in God’s great redemptive purpose. They would have preferred to restrict Christianity to the Jews, and they resisted every outreach effort that was extended toward non-Jews. The Judaizers were seemingly unable to see that their traditions placed restrictions on the love and mercy of God. They were legalistic and literalistic in their interpretations of the Old Testament. Every “i” of the Law must be dotted and every "t” crossed. They were blind to the changes that the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit were bringing about in the hearts and lives of Gentile believers, in that salvation and a relationship with God was achieved by faith and not by the works including obeying the Law.

Paul warns the Philippians, and us today, about the necessity of being on guard against false teaching and false teachers. Paul was afraid that the Philippian congregation would be subjected to the same kind of dangers that he dealt with in his letter to the Galatians. Jean read some of that letter this morning, in Galatians 1:1-14.

Let's go back to

Paul was concerned that the same would happen to the Philippians.

I. So Paul issues a warning against legalism.

From verse 3 of Philippians on, we draw the conclusion that Paul was informing his converts in Philippi to be on their guard. They needed to oppose those who insisted that the proper observance of external religious ceremonies, along with ancestral relationships, gave them a special position of privilege in God’s sight.

Genesis 15:4‭-‬6 NLT Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the Lord , and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Galatians 3:6‭-‬7 NLT In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.

So it was faith that caused God to count Abraham as righteous not anything that Abraham did other than believe Him.

So the fact that you were a direct descendant of Abraham gave you no special position of privilege in God’s sight.

Paul addressed this point again about religious ceremonies, and ancestral relationships, in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 4:1‭-‬3 NLT Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

Romans 14:5‭-‬9 NLT In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.

Paul went into great detail, in his letter to the Phillippians, to demonstrate that he no longer put his faith and trust in his ancestral heritage and his works, the things on which he previously had based his hope for a right relationship with God.

In other words, He no longer put faith in his religious self-discipline or achievements as a basis for acceptance before the Father God.

Philippians 3:5‭-‬7 NLT I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

As we said last week Paul was saying that he was not going to waste any more time worrying about the past, he was now concerned with the main thing, he was going to press on toward the goal ahead.

Paul encouraged the Philippian congregation to trust in Jesus Christ plus nothing else, for a righteousness that comes through faith.

Philippians 3:8‭-‬9 NLT Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

II. Paul then issues a warning against false teachings.

In the closing verses of Philippians 3, Paul warned believers against listening to and following those who separate belief from conduct and behavior.

Philippians 3:17‭-‬19 NLT Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

The false teachers in this passage may be the Gnostics, who believed that people found acceptance before God on the basis of a superior knowledge. This belief was communicated to them by those who thought they had the secrets of the knowledge of God. The Gnostics believed that any natural matter, people plants, animals, any natural thing, is essentially evil and that the Creator God is so exalted and so far removed from mankind that he is really unconcerned about human conduct.

These false teachers denied the true humanity of Jesus Christ and in so doing also denied his divinity. Paul warns his beloved Philippians against the belief that there is no relationship between the condition of the life that someone lives and eternity. In fact how you live is very important and determines the rewards we will receive at the judgement seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

Conclusion

There are many false teachers in the world today and some of them are very sophisticated. We need to beware because these folk and these religious teachers can lead us astray from the truth of God’s Word.

2 Corinthians 11:12‭-‬15 NLT But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

In a series of sermons last year I called these people counterfeiters passing a counterfeit religion. These people are even more devious than those who counterfeit clothes, perfumes and money.

We need to be cautious to make sure that we are not led away from the path of righteousness by what we hear on the radio, see on television or in videos or from the pulpit. We need to be on guard so that we are not led astray by the customs and the traditions of our culture that are often accepted as the law and the gospel.

Here is what Jesus said once about the Pharisees, the religious teachers of the time He walked the earth;

Matthew 15:13‭-‬14 NLT Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

The best way to prevent ourselves from being misled is to make a total commitment to Jesus Christ as heaven’s infallible teacher as well as our Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would teach us.

John 14:23‭-‬26 NLT Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

Where do we find His teaching, His instruction? We find it in His Word, in the Bible.

Your local bank tellers know when a counterfeit bill comes their way because they’ve memorized the details of a real dollar. In the same way, believers with sound biblical knowledge will recognize and discard an anti-Christ message or attitude when it reaches their ears.

Let’s listen to him as he speaks to us with authority concerning God, others, and things that are of eternal value.

Sermon Audio