We live in some strange times. The good times we experienced just a few years ago are gone due to Covid-19. I believe we are living in the end times, meaning ever since Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, we have been living in the end times. One sign of the end times is found in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, where many will fall away from the faith and follow the teachings of demons through false teachers. We see this happening now. Many false teachers attract people with a shiny superficial gospel. Their end is the dark pit and they have no hope.
In Luke 6, Jesus continues to reveal the truth about false teachers. He begins to address their character. A person’s character matters and one is able to identify a false teacher by their character. Jesus knew that false teachers would be a constant threat to the true church so he warns us of false teachers. Jesus says that a false teacher is a hypocrite and wicked. No matter how hard they try, they cannot hide who they are.
Firstly, false teachers are hypocrites. Jesus calls them hypocrites who have a log in their own eye trying to take a speck out of another’s. Imagine having a large beam of wood in your eye while pretending you are fine. How ridiculous it is, yet that is what false teachers are. A hypocrite is an actor, someone who has two faces. They are living under a feigned character. Alexander Souter says a hypocrite is one who “outwardly plays the part of a religious man to perfection, but is inwardly alien to the spirit of true religion”. The false teachers, the Pharisees were full of self-righteousness with no sign of repentance (Luke 18:11-12). The log in their eye is their remaining guilt and worldly desires, blinding them to their own sin. A true believer would repent humbly, ashamed before Holy God, crying out for mercy (Luke 18:13).
Hypocrisy is not only full of self-righteousness but also self-deception. The hypocrite creates their own reality where even though they are wrong, they think they are right. In Matthew 7:22, the crowd thought they knew Jesus and thought they did many great things in Jesus’ name but they are deceived. Jesus doesn’t know them at all. They think that their dramatic faith healings and flashy performances bring them near to Christ. They will defend their experiences vehemently. Yet they are dead wrong.
Hypocritical false teachers are also man-pleasers. They say what people want to hear. They prey like wolves on those who want to hear a soft truth (2 Tim 4:3). That’s what Jesus means by the speck. The false teacher will tell you about a small little problem you have to not offend you. Soft truth makes hearts hard but hard truth makes soft hearts.
Also never listen to a preacher that claims God told them audibly or directly. The Bible is sufficient and all that God has wanted to say is written in it (Jeremiah 14:14). “If private revelation agrees with scriptures, they are needless; and if they disagree, they are false.” – John Owen.
We cannot measure the godliness of a man based on signs and wonders because we are not saved by miracles. A sinner is saved only by the hearing of the gospel (Romans 10:17). False teachers will focus on presentation and neglect the weighty doctrines (Matthew 23:23). The people need to hear of sin, hell, and repentance for there to be significance of His love on the cross and the hope of resurrection. Kenneth Copeland and Steve Furtick spit lies about Jesus and their churches are huge and wealthy, but they are not saved.
False teachers have wicked character and bear bad fruit. Jesus says a bad tree cannot produce bad fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.” A true believer would be humble, righteous, and sacrificial like the Beatitudes. They would bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But the false teachers are known by their fruit. They are worldly, they seek fame and fortune. They cannot bear Biblical fruit no matter how hard they try or how much they try to pretend because they are not truly saved.
Ultimately, God is the one who knows you by your fruit and will judge you by what you bear. Jesus in the end will say to all hypocrites, ‘I never knew you’ (Matthew 7:23). The question is, what fruit do you bear? You should know what sort of tree you are by your fruit. Are you a good tree which bears good fruit? Are you truly saved by God’s grace and sincerely obey His word or are you falsely being religious? Don’t expect your false deeds to stand up in the final court (Rev 20:10).
The false teacher nor their followers are actually saved, yet they pretend they are. They are evil, their hearts are evil and they treasure what is evil (Genesis 6:5). This is all they can be because they are not regenerate. This is an extreme danger to the true church (Matthew 7:15). False teachings like CRT are invading good churches and causing disunity, disruption, distraction, and harm against brothers and sisters. The only defense we have is God’s word. We must cling to the Bible. All believers must emulate the Bereans, be noble-minded and search the Scriptures to test what we hear and learn. Then we can prevent ourselves from being hypocrites and we protect ourselves and our churches from false teachers and their wickedness.
BIBLE COMMUNITY CHURCH 
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