Discerning What is True from What is False | Rev. Paul Lawler

How do you know what's true when every voice claims to speak for God? Not every inspiring message leads to Jesus, and not everything that sounds spiritual is rooted in Scripture. In a world filled with competing voices, followers of Christ are called to develop discernment—anchoring themselves so deeply in the true gospel that they can recognize anything that subtly pulls them away from Jesus.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ. We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word.

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Great to see all of you today. Hope you're having a great summer. And it is good to be in God's house today. Welcome.

Discern True Teaching

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All right, so you know there are parts of Scripture. Well, let me rephrase that. All of Scripture is relevant in some way. Even when you're reading the so-and-so begot so-and-so, so-and-so begot so-and-so, believe it or not, that will preach. We won't do that today, but it preaches. It's there, all of Scripture is alive. It speaks. But I I want you to know before we dive in today how hyper-relevant this passage is. And when I read it in a moment, you might may or may not catch that. But I just want to invite you to pay close attention to where God takes us through the Apostle Paul today. And he's dealing primarily with the fact that there are true apostles, false apostles. There are teachers that are teaching God's word clearly, and there are teachers who are not, preachers who are not teaching God's word clearly. And by the way, this is not an isolated thing that pops up in Scripture. Jesus talked about that. Peter talks about that. Paul talks about that in this text this morning. Some come and teach God's word. They're very helpful. And I would submit to you that there are some that are harmful. There are some who are sincere, but they're sincerely off base. There are some who are deceptive. And the greater question is this is this how do you discern what is true? And how do you discern what is false? And does it matter? And because the enemy of our souls has always understood something very important. If he can't destroy God's work directly, he'll seek to distort it indirectly. And so Satan rarely shows up looking evil. He usually shows up not with horns and a pitchfork, like the cartoons, but scripture tells us that he shows up disguised as a deceiver. He makes things look attractive or makes something look spiritual or even reasonable. But the apostle Paul writes to the church at Corinth because they were struggling with this very issue. False teachers had entered the church, they appeared like inspirational, they were great speakers, they appeared religious, they claimed authority, they talked about spiritual things. But the Apostle Paul in this passage says, hey, loved ones, something is off. And you, loved ones, need to learn how to discern when something is off. Because what was happening is they were showing up, these teachers in that ecclesial body, there were those showing up, really twisting scripture in a way that they were preaching a different Jesus in a different spirit with a different twist on Scripture, which resulted in a different gospel. And so Paul writes with a heart of a spiritual father to the church here. And he says basically to the Corinthian church, church, you need discernment. You need the ability to discern what is true and what is false. And it matters greatly. So let's let's read the text. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm going to read the first 15 verses. I want to invite you to hear God's word. Paul says this I wish you would bear with me a little foolishness. And in a little foolishness, do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ, but I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Jesus Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you receive, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles. Note that he's being a little sarcastic there, just so if you're not picking up on that. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge. Indeed, in every way, we've made this plain to you all in all are made plain to you in all things. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted? Because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge. I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone. For the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need, so I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you, God knows I do. And what am I doing? And what I am doing, I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men, now notice this, this is a man of God calling it out. So he says, For such men are false apostles. And so false apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, therein will correspond to their deeds. Jesus, I pray and trust that you will revelate the power of your living word over this body and all those that are listening in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, here's the thing. Here's where we're going to go for a few minutes. I'm going to talk to you about discernment and what the Apostle Paul teaches around discernment. Discernment doesn't mean that we're going to be suspicious of everything, but there are some guidelines that God gives us in his word. So here's where we'll begin.

Love Jesus First

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First of all, discernment begins with a love for Jesus above everything else. Now, that shouldn't surprise you, but I want you to notice the unique terminology that Paul uses here. Verse one, he starts out, I wish you could bear with me a little foolishness. Do bear with me. Why does he say that? Well, here's the beauty of the Apostle Paul. He's about to talk about himself for just a moment. And when he talks, he's going to talk about himself, he introduces it by saying, bear with me in a little bit of foolishness. And what he's doing is he's saying he takes the gospel seriously seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. And I would submit to you that that's healthy for all of us. And so he recognizes that he's about to play a little mind game with them to invite them to think more deeply. And so here's where he goes He loves them deeply, and he says in verse 2, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Jesus Christ. And so Paul is using the language of a wedding here. I think we all get that. In other words, what Paul is saying is that as God used me to share Jesus Christ with you as gospel, and people have come to Christ, and the church has been birthed, he said, I'm introducing, I introduced you to the bridegroom. I introduced you to Jesus. You have seen Jesus with your heart through the gospel. And through the gospel, I want you to remain faithful to the bridegroom. And so, really, this is the heart of Christian discernment. Discernment, as I said a moment ago, is not about being suspicious of everything, but it is about loving Jesus so deeply and so purely, as Paul writes here, that you recognize anything that pulls you away from Jesus. A parent understands this. A few years ago, I walked my daughter down the aisle. She was getting married. And I didn't feel jealousy that she was getting married, but I did feel jealousy in the context that I want, I'm jealous for her new husband, who's a good guy, by the way. Jealous for him to care for my daughter, to love my daughter, to lay his life down for my daughter and support my daughter. I'm jealous for that. And that's the kind of spirit Paul is talking about here. He says, This is how I feel about you, church at Corinth, in regard to your relationship with Jesus, that the church belongs to Jesus. It is his body. And so the question is not simply when you're hearing somebody teach the word of God. The question is not, is this teaching popular? Or is this person impressive? Or does this message make me feel good? The question is, does this message draw me closer to the person of Jesus Christ? Or is this drawing me to a personality, to follow a person or a personality? So the first real methodology, pattern of discerning truth is that the real test is does this draw me to Jesus?

Truth Looks Almost Right

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Here's the second one, church. Falsehood, just in a little pattern just to learn as we're learning to discern, falsehood appears as something almost true. Now look with me at verse 3. Paul writes this but I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Now, now notice how Paul phrases this. He does not say they were outright rejecting Jesus. What he says is that they're being pulled away from a sincere and pure devotion to Jesus, your first love. And so the danger, what Paul's pointing out here is that the danger is subtle. It's very subtle. The enemy didn't come and say, Hey, get your attention. Stop believing in God. Instead, the enemy came and with something more subtle, like he did in the book of Genesis. Did God really say? Just to plant a doubt. That's how deception works. I've said this to you before, church family. When you're deceived, you don't know you're deceived because you're deceived. And the most dangerous lies are not the ones that are obviously false. The most dangerous lies are the lies that are almost true. We all know what I'm about to say. I mean, this is all common sense. A counterfeit $100 bill works because it looks real. But nobody counterfeits a $3 bill because that's not believable. The enemy doesn't usually tempt people. He doesn't tempt you with obvious evil. He begins with something good and he twists it. He just twists it. I've shared with you on numerous occasions that when you see the word wicked in scripture, that where most of us our minds go are the things like or persons like Hitler or Saddam is saying. But the word wicked in the original Hebrew literally means to take a truth and twist it a little. Just put a little bend on it to make it more palatable to the culture. And it's happened in the past, and it's happened not only in the text, but what we know that if it's happened in the past, it can happen again. And the one thing we know from history is that we don't learn from history. Now you can. We can. I remember years ago, about probably about six, seven years ago, maybe maybe a little longer, I remember there was a well-known United Methodist pastor who published lots of books and had a lot of following. And he said a lot of good things, but there were some things that he said that were off. And I, one of the days where I, it was a good day, I went home going, honey, Missy, this has been a good day. And the reason it was a good day is that I had multiple members of the church I pastor come to me, isolated from one another, and said, Hey, I've been reading this, Pastor, something's off. And it, I was like, Thank you, Jesus. Because the body was mature enough to discern. The body was mature enough to recognize that things that were being said and the way they were framed did not align with scripture. And they recognize the distinction between emo-based reasoning versus reasoning from the revelation of God. Again, the enemy does not usually tempt people with obvious evil. He takes something good and he twists it. He takes grace and he turns it into cheap grace. In other words, we're all under grace. It doesn't matter how we live, which is a distortion. In fact, it's not only a distortion, it is a heresy, and there's a name for it. It's called autonomianism. But he also takes freedom and turns it into self-centered selfishness. I know that's repetitive, but it's there for emphasis. He takes love and removes truth from it. And the Bible teaches you can't even love without truth, that the two are wed together. He takes spirituality and he minimizes the things that Jesus said by lifting up certain things that Jesus said and ignoring other things that Jesus Christ said and ignores the revelation of Scripture in general. This is why Christians must have discernment. Not every spiritual sounding message is biblical. Many spiritual sounding messages would pass muster at the Lions Club. Nothing wrong with the Lions Club. That's not your pastor's point. The point is that the gospel is not a motivational message. The gospel is centered in the historical gospel. This is why I say things to you like this from time to time when we're preaching. I'll be right in the middle of preaching and say something like this: have the mind of Berean Christians. You may remember them in the book of Acts, who search the scriptures for themselves to see if these things are true. And I encourage you, believer, to have the mind of a believer. Do it for your sake. Do it for the sake of your children. Do it for the sake of your grandchildren. Do it for the sake of the generations to come. And most of all, do it for the sake of the glory of God, because the people of God historically have drifted from God two degrees at a time. And when they drift, it's because they've forsaken sensitivity and responsiveness to the revelation of God. Not everybody carrying a Bible is preaching the gospel. And not every religious experience is from God. And the reason your pastor says that is because you would, if you go back to 1 Corinthians, Paul is correcting the church at Corinthians because they've exalted spiritual gifts to such a degree, in a way they've gotten into comparison with one another at a point where it's fleshy and it's not rooted in the spirit of God. Look, I affirm all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but they're to be engaged in a way that reflects the biblical patterns of how they're to operate within the church. So Paul reminds the church be careful, be wise, be discerning, because the serpent is still at

Gospel Is the Test

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work. Thirdly, he informs us to test the truth, or the test of the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The test of the truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look with me in verse 4. Paul says, For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, that the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Now, this is the heart of the passage, because what Paul is saying to the church at Corinth, what God's saying to us, is this there's a real Jesus, there's a real gospel, there's a real Holy Spirit. We honor his presence here with us. And anything that twists or distorts those things is dangerous. And that's not hyperbole. It's dangerous. In fact, let me use another word. It's potentially deadly. Eternally deadly. The gospel is not simply try harder. The gospel is not be a nicer person. The gospel is not God helps those who helps themselves. The gospel is Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners. Now remember that word save has significance. In Romans 8:1, one of my favorite passages, favorite for many of you, there is therefore now no, say it, condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Well, loved ones, common sense tells us is if the inference is that if you're in Christ there's no condemnation, then you can clearly see that the inference is if you're not in Christ, there is condemnation. If Jesus said, those who believe on me and trust their life to me will have, will not perish and have eternal life, the inference is if those things are not true, then I do perish and I will not have eternal life. Jesus Christ came to save, to save you from something, to save you from hell, to save you from the judgment of God. He came to save. That's what a savior does. That is not a Baptist theological perspective, that is a Christian theological perspective. And it's true no matter what your tribe name is, or if you have no formal tribe at all. That is an eternal Christian truth for 2,000 years. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He lived a life that we could not live. He was perfect. He never sinned. He died a death that you and I deserved. He rose from the grave, victorious over sin, victorious over death, rose the third day, ascended to the right hand of the Father. Scripture says you and I, if you're a believer, you're seated with him in heavenly places, too good to be true, too true to ignore. And through faith in him, we're forgiven and made new in this life and eternally. In fact, this is so powerful. Jesus said that when you are, your life is in him, because I live, when you die, you will live also. This is the gospel. It's the gospel. But a counterfeit gospel always adds something or takes something away, or it emphasizes human achievement or loved ones. It removes the cross. And it reminds me of what H. Richard Nieber said years ago when he was characterizing the danger he was witnessing in the Western church when from so many pulpits and from so many teachers, you're hearing things that don't align with Scripture. Listen to what he wrote. Many of you are familiar with this quote. He's so concerned about a watered-down gospel in North America. He writes, what we've become is this that now we have a version of a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. So a few years back, this gentleman approached me in my church family where I was serving, and he said, Hey, I'm I'm getting married, and he had done premarital counseling uh with someone else, but he had he he was getting married, he was really excited as you can imagine, and he said, I'm getting married this summer. Would you do the wedding? And so he showed me the date and I said, I'm sorry, I've I've I've got a conflict and so I'd love to, but I I can't. So he said, Well, the wedding is in the Bahamas, and we're gonna go on a cruise and we're we're gonna pay, we were going to pay your you and Missy's way. And I looked back and said, You know, my Microsoft office doesn't always work properly. I I must there must be some misunderstanding. So so anyway, uh Missy and I went on the cruise and suffered for Jesus.

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It just but while we were on this cruise, there was this art show and art sales.

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And so uh Missy and I like art, and uh we don't own any expensive art, but we like to look at it, and so we Great, we'll go attend this event. And so this guy's presenting all this art, and he began to say some things I had a hard time believing, but this is what he said. He's pointing at different pieces, and he said, Now, this is a Picasso. A Picasso. I'm like, we are floating on the Caribbean. And this dude is trying to, he's pulling wool over people's eyes. And he said, You can have this for 600 bucks. And I'm like, I'm not going to be honest with you, I'm not going to pay $600 for a piece of art, I don't think. Anyway. But I'm like, there's no way you're going to buy a Picasso for $600. And so I'm I'm just processing this. Well, about a month later, there's an article in multiple newspapers about don't buy art on a cruise. Okay. Now, if you're in that business, please understand it's not personal, but because of the shams that are going on. Well, here's the thing. Obviously, what we were looking at was fake. The question wasn't whether or not it was beautiful. The question was whether or not it was authentic. And the same is true in the lens of what Paul is saying to us as Christians. A message may sound inspiring. A message may sound positive. It may even sound wise. But the deepest question that we should all be asking, is it the authentic gospel of Jesus Christ? That's key to discernment. In John Wesley's day, do you, do you, are you aware this was a big problem? Some of you who are familiar with Methodist history are aware that in the 18th century the Enlightenment had taken effect and rationalism had begun to inebriate the Anglican church. And when you get, when you when you dumb down God and you begin having what I call episodes of vague deism because everybody now has just a vague notion of God because from the pulpits at that time the gospel was not being proclaimed. And people just have this vague notion of who God is. What happens is people devolve into thinking all kinds of things and really begin to rely on a lot of emotion-based reasoning in light of who God is. Do you know how John Wesley countered that church family? He came up with a methodology to cut through the mustard, just to cut right through the, just slice through that. This is why John Wesley said and he taught his preachers to ask this question: Do you desire to flee the coming wrath and be saved from your sins? Because Wesley was clear on scripture that apart from Jesus, you're under judgment for your sin. You're accountable to a holy God. And God is either going to judge you or God's going to allow that judgment to fall on Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. You come to God through him. And John Wesley used that phrase to pierce that the vague notional understanding of God so that people would wrestle with the core truths of the gospel. It's happened before in history, and in this age, with little sound bites on social media, what you see on Instagram, what you see in this little short video on TikTok, you can get all kinds of distortions in regard to what God is like. Be mindful, the test of the truth is the gospel of

Point People to Christ

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Jesus Christ. Fourth, spiritual leaders must point people away from themselves and toward Christ. And the reason that's relevant is because Paul calls it out right here, verse 13, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen. Now let me let's stop right here. Why would Paul, why would we see an apostle, why would we see a true apostle calling it out? Because lives are at stake. That's why. So much so that he's willing to go on the record and risk being misunderstood, rooted in his conviction for the gospel, and most of, well say, most of all, wed with love for people. And so for such men are false apostles, deceitful. In other words, he's calling them out. They're deceivers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And the word Paul uses here is so important: disguising. They looked like apostles, they sounded like apostles, but they were not apostles. And Paul continues, verse 14, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. And that's one of the most sobering verses in scripture that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, which tells us the enemy of our souls knows how to make darkness look attractive. He knows how to make selfishness look like freedom. And he knows how to make pride look like confidence, and he knows how to make deception look like wisdom. And this is why being discerning matters, because a faithful shepherd does not gather people around himself or herself. Now, this, when I taught this at 8:30, I paused. And I'm doing it again. I've been doing this for 40 years. And when you've been doing something for 40 years, this is a cliche, but here it goes. You've seen some things. You've seen some stuff. And you take note. And through the years, I've watched people who suddenly think they have a new revelation in Scripture that nobody has seen before, or they get off on one little area in Scripture and begin to over-emphasize certain things to the neglect of others, and then they begin rallying people to themselves, and it's very divisive in the church. And when those kinds of things happen, loved ones, all of us should hold them accountable. All of us. Will you let this sink in? We need each other. We need each other. Okay? We're the body of Christ. But I've seen that happen through the years. People pick up, take 100, 200 people with them, go plant another church because they think they have some kind of special revelation that contradicts 2,000 years of Christianity. A faithful shepherd does not gather people around himself or herself. A faithful shepherd points people to Jesus Christ. Loved ones, one of the great role models of this was John the Baptist. John the Baptist understood this. When people started following Jesus, John the Baptist didn't resent that he no longer had a following. John the Baptist said, less of me, more of him. I must decrease. He must increase more of Jesus. That's our posture. Amen.

Know the Shepherd’s Voice

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Amen. Let it be so, Lord. And then finally, as we're learning to discern out of this passage, fifthly, discernment requires knowing the voice of the shepherd, knowing Jesus' voice. Jesus is so simple. John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice and they know me, they follow me. And so Jesus didn't say that we know every voice or every possible false voice. Jesus just simply said that my followers know my voice. So common sense, bank employees are not trained to see or be able to recognize every counterfeit bill they're trained now by a machine, running it through a machine, to just know what is authentic, what's the actual currency. And the same is true in your walk with Jesus. And the number one way, loved one, if you hear your pastor say anything today, hear this. The number one way we learn to discern is by knowing scripture. Communing with the Lord in the Word of God. That's the number one way. Commune with the Lord.

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For years. When we were in our former denomination. Missy would ask me, Why do people not see? Why do they not understand truth? And I would say, honey. Because there's so many pulpits in which the truth is not being taught.

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The Bible's not being taught. Someone will read the passage of scripture, and then you'll hear three nice or maybe a couple of stories and a poem at the end. Now please, I want you to know I'm not saying that because I think I'm better then, because I remember Jesus' words. Okay. I understand. You who are spiritual, watch yourselves lest you too are being tempted, Galatians 6.1. And the temptation is to be prideful. So I Lord help me, I take no pride in this. Help me.

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But the reason so many people are deceived, and they don't know they're deceived, is because they have not communed with Jesus through his word. And the tenderness of it all.

Discern in a Noisy World

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I grieve for large swaths of people who are a part of churches. They just don't know.

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We grow in discernment by knowing scripture, by staying close to Jesus, by spending time in prayer, time with God's people, letting scripture be primary. A person who rarely opens their Bible will struggle to recognize false teaching. But someone who knows the voice of Jesus, knows the word of God, will recognize when something doesn't sound like Jesus. And the Corinthian church was coming to grips with that. They were impressed by appearances, they were drawn to charisma, they were attracted to confidence. And Paul reminds them that Jesus Church is not built on appearances, Jesus Church is built on Jesus Christ and the Word of God. So again, church, we're living in a world full of voices. This afternoon, after you eat lunch, some of you will take a nap and some of you will begin to scroll. And when you scroll, you're going to hear some things, see some things that are true. But you're also going to hear some things that are distortions, that they're false. And you need to be discerning. Some voices lead you toward Jesus Christ. Some voices lead you away from Jesus Christ. But our calling is not simply to listen. The call on your life, loved one, is to discern. That's why Paul writes these verses. So how do we know what is true? So you need to ask these questions. Does this draw me to Jesus or away from Jesus? Does this honor the reality of the cross? Is it a presentation of Christianity that involves no suffering? I remind you, when you have somebody telling you from a pulpit that you can live your best life now, that's a distortion. Your best life now doesn't come on this earth. Your best life now is coming in another life. The life when Jesus Christ brings you home in a new creation. But this is not your best life now. That is a distortion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Does this honor the cross, the reality that Christ suffered and died for your sins? Does this align with Holy Scripture? Does this produce humility? Does this produce holiness in my life? Does this deepen my love for God and my love for people? Because Jesus Christ is still the truth, he is still the way, and he is still the life. And the more we grow in these things, the more we delight in pleasuring in him. He is our greatest joy. He is our greatest pleasure. He is our greatest source. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit. May God strengthen us, give us wisdom to be a discerning people for his glory.

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Amen. Let's pray.

Come to Christ Today

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Pray with me, Church.

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So Jesus, I I just start in prayer with the main thing. You love every person in this room, every child, every teenager, every college student, every young adult, every mom and dad, every grandparent. You love every ethnicity gathered in this room. You love Asian people, Hispanic people, black people, white people, God, people from every part of the earth. You bled and died for us. And in Christ we're one in you. But Lord, I pray for the person who's not where they need to be right now with you. And as you said, only the Father can draw someone to the Son. And I pray, Father, we pray. Draw us all to the Son. Draw us to the Son, Lord, in saving and redeeming power. I want to encourage you. If your life right now, if you're not in Christ, you're not where you need to be. Just confess that to the Lord. I want to remind you, the Bible says that God is love and he's full of mercy. And you need to know that if you'll come to him as you are, he's not out to condemn you. He took it at the cross. And I encourage you to put your faith in him this morning. To confess him that he's the Lord. And in faith, express to him, in faith, I believe you've risen from the dead. You're alive right now because I can sense you drawing me to you, Jesus. And so come to him. His arms are open to you. He loves you. That's why he went to a cross for you. He doesn't want you to perish. He doesn't want you to be separated from the Father. He loves you. So just come to Him. And forsake the crud, the sin, the stuff that's been messing you up. Forsake it. And bow to Jesus. He's going to give you a brand new life. So, Jesus, come in. As these persons turn to you, as they confess you're knocking at the door of the heart, and these doors are being opened. Come in and reign. Birth new life, we pray. And Lord, grant us all the gift of discernment for the sake of our lives, our children, grandchildren, generations to come, most of all your glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ. To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at Christchurch Memphis.org. We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples.