2023-11-16- Beware of False Doctrine

Jesus addresses the church in Pergamos and commends them for their faithfulness and endurance in the face of persecution. However, He also warns them about false doctrines that have infiltrated the church, specifically the doctrine of Balaam. He urges them to repent and promises rewards to those who overcome. The message emphasizes the importance of being cautious of false teachings in the midst of an abundance of resources and information. Alright, Revelation chapter 2 tonight. I'm going to read a few verses here, starting with verse 12. These are the words of Jesus. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he that hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Remember, this is Jesus talking. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. There again in verse 13, I know thy works, I know where you dwell. I know you've held fast my name, you've not denied the faith, even in those days when Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you. But I have a few things against thee. Father, thank You so much for our time together tonight. Thank You for songs that have been sung and encouraging words. And Lord, things that we get to hear from one another that do bring encouragement. Sometimes we may not know what we're saying or how it'll strike, but I pray that You'll use us nonetheless. And I pray that You'll move in this message tonight, that Your Word will be going forth, and it'll accomplish the work that You have planned for it. And I pray for the edifying of Your church tonight, in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. I want to try to preach tonight just this theme, to beware of false doctrines. Beware of false doctrines. We live in a time that there are resources about innumerable. And if you would think if there is any age of people who ought to have this downright, and it ought to be easy for anyone to see in the age of information, in the age of being able to compare things and to dig deep, this should be the day. But we're just like every other age, we abound with false doctrine. I mean, it is everywhere. So, I want to try to preach tonight just a little bit here to beware of false doctrines. Read in here in the book of Revelation, and of course, this is that writing of John that he begins there in chapter 1, and he tells us who he is and the experiences that he's had. He's just simply on the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He's a prisoner. He's out there by himself, or so it seems. And whatever he has to do all these other times, there comes a day, the Lord's day, when something out of the ordinary happens. And we know that John was there when Jesus was received up into heaven, and Jesus said, told all of the eleven that were there, Lo, I am with you always. And John, no doubt, just like you and I, have had to take those words by faith. John's on the Isle of Patmos. There may be nobody else to talk to of like faith. He may not be able to sit down and have a Bible study and discuss the Scriptures or experiences with somebody else, but he has to hearken back to the words of his Savior who said, I am with you always. And when you get up in the morning and you're not feeling it, you've got to say, by faith, I know that God is with me. There are times we come in together in the house of God, and we do what we do. We sing our songs. We give our testimonies. We worship our God. And we accept by faith that where two or three are gathered together, He's here. And so we trust that He's here. And we pray our prayers knowing that He's hearing because He said so. But then on that particular Lord's Day, the Bible tells us that He wasn't necessarily having to depend so much on faith on the inside, because He got to hear that familiar voice, because He got to witness something on that particular day. And it's just like we have sometimes. You may go into prayer at times, and you get to pray, and you end the prayer, and you know that God heard you because He promised that He would. But there's other times that you get into prayer and you say, He's right here with me. I feel the manifestation of the Spirit, and that's what John was like on that day. When he gets told, I'm about to share with you a whole lot of things here, John, you get ready to write these things down. And he has a wonderful experience in the Lord, and gets to see Him like he's never seen Him before. And Jesus begins to talk to him. And He says, there's things that I'm going to tell you about. And we know that the book of Revelation has the apocalypse. It's got the last days. It's got all these wondrous things, and it gives great detail of things that are going to happen in the future. And there are things of the Old Testament prophets that have brought clarity because of what Jesus is about to tell John. And He's about to launch into all of this. I mean, that people have wondered about it and made it such a mystery over the years. Jesus is about to reveal what is going to happen in the last days. But before He gets to the big subject, we've got two chapters here where Jesus says, before I get there, I've got to talk to my people. There were seven churches in Asia that Jesus was letting them know, I know who you are, I know where you are, I know what you're going through, and I know what kind of encouragement you need, and I know the direction that you need. And so He takes this time. John, we're about to get into the big stuff. But I'm talking to people right now. I'm talking to local churches. I'm talking to small congregations. And it tells me that God is interested in us. That before He ever got there, He wanted to talk to these churches. Every one of them heard Him say, I know thy works. I know the things that you're doing. That was good news to some, and it was bad news to others. Some people would hear, I know thy works, and take comfort in that. Some would hear, I know thy works, and it would be a fearful thing that He said, I know thy works. But here we have these letters to these seven churches, and we read together tonight the letter that was sent out to the church at Pergamos. Jesus says, I know thy works. And He commends these people. They're faithful people. You've got something going on here. He says, I know where you dwell. You're holding fast My name. Thou hast not denied My faith. You've been doing really well. And He even acknowledges that there are people in that church that are under the influence of Satan himself. But even though those have resorted to murder against one of God's faithful men, Antipas, we don't know anything about him. The Bible doesn't give us anything else. There's lots of conjecture about what it was and what he went through, and there's history. But we really don't know. It's the only place that he's been. But we do know he gave his life for the cause of Jesus Christ. And in the midst of that church, Jesus looks at those people and He says, even in the face of persecution, you have not denied My name. Even when things got tough, you have shown yourself to be faithful, and you have demonstrated strength, even though Satan has moved against your church even to murder one of those that is among you. And somehow, even as faithful as the people of Pergamos was, somehow Satan got into that church. Jesus said, I know where his seat is. Where he's taken up residence in the church. And so Jesus then begins to speak of the church, and He tells them that there's something that offends Me about your church. There is a trait that I have found that I don't like within that I'm seeing in the church. And He addresses it like this, and He said it before, I have a few things against thee. Now that had to hurt. That had to be something. But when it's revealed, when God speaks to us as individuals and says, I've got something against you, it pricks our hearts. And we really understand He knows what He's talking about. And so when He told the church at Pergamos, I have a few things against thee, there was a matter in that church that false doctrines had crept in among the people. He called them this. It was the doctrine of Balaam. It was the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Now, I'm not going to address the doctrine of the Nicolaitans tonight, because again, that's all conjecture. There's people who will say that this is what it is, and somebody else is where it came from. But all it is, is guessing and trying to piece some things together. We don't have it identified in the Scripture, but there's an awful lot in the Bible that tells us about the doctrine of Balaam. And this was a false doctrine that had infiltrated the church. Because while Satan had attempted to destroy the church at Pergamos with pressure from the outside, and he couldn't get in, he couldn't cause the church to fold, he couldn't move them off of where they were, he could not change their faith from what it was. And when he could not, with pressure from outside, he resorted to an old tactic that was used on the children of Israel while they were wandering in the wilderness. The Bible tells us here Jesus called it a stumbling block that had been cast in the midst of them. And what this word really means, the Thayer's lexicon says, that to cast means it's just to throw it in and not really be concerned about where it lay. And he said that's what's happening with this false doctrine. Somebody's coming along with it, and they're casting it in in the midst. Somebody's going to cast it away. Somebody's going to walk by it, but somebody's going to stop for a minute and pick it up and pet it. Not even caring who picks it up. But the false doctrine has been thrown into these people, not even concerned about where it falls, not concerned about who picks it up. And Jesus said about this, I hate it. Now that's some pretty strong words from the Son of God. But when His church is under attack, when His people are brought up against, when somebody's trying to draw His people away, Jesus steps up and says, I hate that. And He says what's been brought in there is this doctrine of Balaam. Now I'm going to just go back and rehearse just a little bit. You remember Balaam was that prophet in Numbers chapter 22 that got hired by the king of the Moabites, King Balak. How Balak looked at the children of Israel, and he realized that the children of Israel were awfully powerful people all by themselves. And he saw that they were more than he could handle. And he recognized that if he was going to get an upper hand over the children of Israel, he was going to have to have supernatural help. These people are too much for me. So he hires Balaam and sends the word to Balaam. He says, curse me, this people, for they are too mighty for me. And you don't read too far and you find out, you can see that Balaam seemed pretty interested in the reward that was being offered. Because he prays about going and God says no. And so they come back with a greater reward. And so he prays about it again and God finally says, you just go with them. And Balaam says, now I'm going to tell you, I can't say anything but what God puts in my mouth. And when Balak wanted Balaam to curse the children of Israel, all he could do was bless these people. He opened his mouth and the words of God came out of his mouth. It frustrated Balak, so he'd take them to another place. Let's look at them from over here. And all he could do was bless them. Well, come on around here where you don't even see all of them and let's see if we can curse them. But all he could do was bless them. He could not curse Israel because the blessings of God rested upon Israel. Three times did he try to go with Balak to curse the people of God. But that which God has blessed, Satan cannot curse it. That's why you and I need to stay within the cover of God's blessings. We need to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We need to find ourselves in the secret place of the Most High. Because when we're a people, and we see it demonstrated right there in the children of Israel, when somebody wanted to come against them, when somebody wanted to curse them, they found out that if God be for us, brother Ron, who can be against us? The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, he said, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? He said, Who is it that condemneth? Who shall separate us from the love of God? He said, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And so, when God has made a choice, and He made a choice, He hung His Son on Calvary, and those who have been washed by His blood and faithful to His name, these are the blessed of God. And let Satan blow, let Satan holler, let Satan howl, let him roar, but he cannot curse the people of God. For if God be for us, who can be against us? And the powers of Satan are no match for this great protective hand of God. We, brother Camden, are abiding in a protected place. We've got God who watches over us. But Balaam was so interested in the reward, it frustrated him too, that he couldn't curse the people of God. Peter wrote in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 15 that Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness. This man had a great interest in the wealth of this world, the riches of this life, and he had to figure out a way. I can't get through them like this. I've got to find another way so that I can receive the reward of unrighteousness. And acknowledging that the people of God could not be destroyed from without, Balaam came up with another idea. If he could just convince people, ignore the law of God, I don't have to curse you, you'll curse yourself. If I can persuade somebody that the carnal pleasures that the lusts of the flesh would desire, those things which are expressly forbidden in the Word of God, if I can convince these people that none of that really matters, I can get these people on the wrong side of God's holiness. And it won't be a matter of me cursing somebody. God will turn Himself against them. And if He could turn the Holy One of Israel against these people, while the pressures from the outside could not curse them, if He convinced these people to sin against God, that God would bring that curse upon them Himself. Well, the children of Israel, they fell for it. When somebody could not beat them in a war, they infiltrated with false doctrine. Here's what they did. They began to take the commandments of God lightly. The Word of God didn't matter so much anymore. He tempted them with the idolatrous worship and practice of the heathen. He brought that in among the people. And when God Almighty and His Word are no longer the sole authority for our lives, when our loyalties begin to get divided, and I trust God for salvation, but I don't trust God for how to live. I'll trust Jesus to be my Savior, but I'll find another God to be my Lord. It was not long after they began worshiping other gods, when they took their eyes off the one true God, that they began to submit themselves to the lusts of the flesh. And when what God said didn't matter anymore, then they dove deeper and deeper and were given to fornication. When God's authority is questioned in the life of a child of God, it will not be long before the limits or the boundaries of God's laws will be abandoned altogether. And that's why we need to beware of false doctrines. This was a danger that Jesus was addressing there in Pergamos at that time. And it is the same danger that we face today. It's clear God has made things very clear in His Bible. God knows how to say things and make it plain. And He has seen to it that down through the centuries, His Word has survived and it's been preserved. And so when some modern teacher comes by and tells us that the ideas of God's Holy Word don't really mean what they say, when somebody comes along and tests in those things among us, that the things that are written in God's Word are not really a big deal, we're going to be in trouble. Peter said there were false prophets also among the people. But listen, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. We're in a dangerous place. When we get to the place where we're denying the Lord who bought us. When we begin to think about what we can do to help ourselves to be saved, He is saying that those are damnable heresies and they're bringing upon themselves swift destruction. Many are following their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. That's going to be a sure mark of a false doctrine when somebody begins to speak evil of the things that this Bible says. And you know, Peter, he said these false prophets, these false teachers bringing in these heresies, he said many are going to follow. And you know why? It's because it's going to take advantage of covetousness within people. What is it that you want? Well, I'm going to tell you about the liberty that you have contrary to the Word of God. You can have that. The Bible tells us that false prophets will allure through the lusts of the flesh. They're not coming at us so much with these great ideas of philosophy, but they're looking at people and saying, what do you want? That's not out of reach. God doesn't want you to not have that. But Peter had no kind words to say about these people. He spoke of them facing swift destruction, whose judgment lingereth not, whose damnation slumbereth not. Brothers and sisters, the warning has been sounded in the Word of God. His cry is crystal clear. We ourselves must beware of false doctrines. And there is only one way that we are going to be able to stand against heresies. The only way that we're going to withstand the lies that are launched against the Most High is to know what this Bible says for ourselves. I'm glad for our Sunday school teachers, but it's not just on them to know what the Bible says. We're going to have to know what the Bible says, because somebody is going to cast in the doctrine of Balaam. Somebody is going to cast in the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Somebody is going to come along and they're going to cast some words in just looking to see who is going to pick them up. Paul wrote to Timothy and he said this about solid doctrine. It is without controversy. It is non-negotiable. This is not up for debate. It is not up for discussion. It is without controversy. There is no acceptable argument against that which is written within the Word of God. Jesus told the church at Pergamos, you're in danger, folks. I know where Satan's seat is. I appreciate your faithfulness. I'm glad of how you've stood, even in the time of persecution. And when it got hard, you became stronger. But I'm telling you what, these false doctrines, they come in among us, they are going to destroy. Somebody had come in and they were purposely sowing seeds of doubt against the Word of God. The Apostle Paul told the Galatian church, he said when those kind of people came in among us, we gave them no place, no nut for an hour. We did not give them any attention, but the truth of the Gospel must continue. We are living in an hour where we're told, live your truth. You decide what's right for you. You figure out... I mean, they just act like there is no eternity. They act like there is no judgment. They act like there are no absolutes, but it all depends upon who you are and the situation that you're in right now. There is a distinct love for the things of this world. And doctrines get introduced into Christian life just so they might be able to fulfill the desires of the flesh. And even our foundational doctrines get distorted by these false teachers. Beware of false doctrines. You know there are those who are denying that Jesus Christ is God, that the deity of Jesus Christ has come into question. Somebody's casting in a false doctrine. John said every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist. There are shadows that get cast over the doctrine of the Trinity. But the Bible says that there are three that bear record in Heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Somebody's going to tell you that Jesus was not born of a virgin. But the Bible says, therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel. Somebody's going to deny the sinlessness of the Son of God. But the Bible says He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Some are denying that Jesus rose from the dead. But the Bible says, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over Him. Somebody will tell you that His death was not good enough to purchase your salvation. They don't believe in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. But Jameson said some of it tonight. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even our foundational doctrines are being challenged today. And if you don't know what this Bible says, and if you can't find what this Bible says, those false doctrines might look mighty good to you. Beware of false doctrines. Paul wrote to Timothy, 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. The single most effective tool against false doctrine is truth. God's eternal truth. That's exactly what we need to fight against false doctrines. So when the liars show up, and when they begin to demonstrate half-truths, and when they just lay flat-out lies before us, there are those who are unstable and their faith is going to get rocked. Because they're going to be smooth talkers. They're going to show you a part of a verse here and take something that doesn't belong there. But the Bible says to study, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And he didn't stop there. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word doth eat as a tinker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying the resurrection is past already, and they overthrow the faith of some. We're in these last days. False doctrines abound because Satan knows he can huff and he can puff. And I don't even think he's even going to bother trying that. Oh, that outward pressure. I've thought before, there's so much. You know, I used to say this before it ever even really happened, but the government can come and chain our doors closed and say, you won't go to church. Yes, we will. We might even grow in number. We might be more faithful showing up to the fellowship. Our songs and our worship may be better than it was before. Because somebody tells us that we can't. But what would destroy us far worse than powers coming from the outside is for there to be a false doctrine cast into the midst of us and we kick it around a little bit and we don't want to confront it and we don't want to hurt somebody's feelings because they might be sincere in what they say. But we need to stand for truth. This church, that's us. I'm not talking about the building. This church must stand for truth. And if we're going to stand for truth, we're going to have to know the truth. Brother Austin, would you come and get us a song tonight? Beware of false doctrine. Don't act like you can't be fooled. You get away from this Bible, somebody's going to fool you. I've told the story when I was a younger man. We were married. Outside our church. We were just hanging out at night. It's about as black out there as it is out here at night. We had a little church out in the country. White van pulls up and this fellow gets out friendly as all get out. And he starts talking to us about worship and starts talking to us about serving God. And before long, he gets into telling me that Jesus is the Father. Jesus is the Son. And Jesus is the Holy Ghost. It was oneness. It was Jesus only. It was apostolic doctrine. And he began to pull verses out and he'd show me. And I stood there dumbfounded. I had no answer except that's not what my church believes. Now, I made myself vulnerable that night. I looked at that man and I said, you've told me a lot here. I promise you this. I'm going to go home and I'm going to look it up for myself. Well, that's probably dangerous to his ears. He'd rather me just take his word for it. Because once I got into the Bible, and I got to finding out what the Bible says, I found out he was wrong. And he just came by to cast some false doctrine right there before me. So I want to stand for what's right. I want to know what right is. But I can only do it if I get into the Bible. You can send me a text and say, can you help me out here? And that would be fine. You can say I need some help on this subject. That's awesome. But you need to get it down within your heart and your mind so when false doctrine appears, you recognize that that ain't right. It doesn't feel right. You may not even be able to identify it, but you say that's just not right. Get into the Bible. Test it. Didn't he say, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits? How are we going to try them? Try them by that which is unchanging. Stand with me tonight. Lord, thank You so much for this beautiful Bible. I am awed that of all Your knowledge, of all Your understanding, this is what You give us and tell us this is what I want You to know. So I pray You make us students of the Scriptures. Help us to study the Word of God. Teach us to shun profane and vain babblings that will increase unto more ungodliness. And I pray You'll give us awareness and boldness to stand for righteousness in the name of Jesus. If our foundational doctrines get disturbed, well, everything else is on shaky grounds. If you don't believe that God is sovereign, well, then there's going to be some things that He said you're going to think aren't all that important. It's happening out there. It's happening to my family. It's happening to people I grew up with. The foundation gets shaken. Let's get ourselves rooted. Let's all come in and let's talk to the Lord tonight. Let's make a commitment. Lord, there's things that I believe, but maybe I'm not sure enough on those things. Maybe I can tell somebody that ain't right, but I can't tell them why it's not right. Maybe I can tell them I believe that Jesus is the sinless Son of God and that He is God, but maybe I can't tell them why I believe that. I say let's make a commitment. Let's make a commitment to get into the Bible. Let's not just read it lightly, but let's find out why we know what we know and believe what we believe lest there come a false doctrine in right where we are and we fall for it. All right, everybody. All right, all right. All right. All right. And there we go. All right. Teach our teachers, Lord. Lord, teach our teachers. Prepare our young people. Lord, teach our young people. Lord, if He came through against us, He better be convinced He's not against us. Get out of my way. Get out of my way. Get out of my way. Get out of my way.