17th Jun 26 | 05:17
Studies by Book
Signs of a false teacher
📖 Acts 15:23-24
Acts 15 - Series 2/Episode 07 - Mon, 13th Apr 2026 - Signs of a false teacher - Acts 15:22-35 - THE ANNOUNCEMENT - I John 02:19
Acts 15:23-24 They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. (24) Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"-to whom we gave no such commandment-
The false teaching that was prevalent at the time of the early church was that "You must be circumcised and keep the law to be saved". Acts 15:1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
There are other aspects of false prophets and teachers that we must examine, as we are being bombarded by false doctrine and false teachers in our current times. We must guard ourselves, and we must judge ourselves, lest we ourselves have slipped and have become wolves in sheep's clothing.
Jeremiah 23:16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; *They speak a vision of their own heart*, Not from the mouth of the LORD.
We must guard our own hearts to ensure that we have not become false teachers. Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? / Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Are we speaking visions of our own hearts, or are we discerning and speaking God's words into our circumstances?
Do we teach to bring people to bondage? Are we having a particular line of teaching that we want everyone around us to accept? Galatians 2:4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, *that they might bring us into bondage*),
If we are not living in the grace of our Lord Jesus, then we are estranged from Christ. Galatians 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. By the flesh we cannot please God. _Romans 8:6-8 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God._
Sadly, many of us have not understood and are not living in the realm of God's empowering and enabling grace.
Am I afraid of the offence of the cross? Standing for Jesus and for the cross of Christ in our times will cause hardship, struggles, inconveniences, separation from our loved ones, loss of benefits and friendships, beatings, imprisonments and even death. Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. If we should preach a compromised Gospel that will not offend, then we have become false teachers and prophets.
Are we striving for words that do not profit? II Timothy 2:14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. When we strive for words that do not profit, then we are ruining our hearers, and we are on the verge of becoming false teachers and prophets.
We must therefore check our words. Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. / Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Paul is strong against false teachers and prophets. Titus 1:10-11 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, (11) whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
Dishonest gain is a matter of the motives of our hearts, which only each of us must judge before God. Any time we recognise even a tinge of dishonest gain creeping into our hearts, we must, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit, root it out. The love of money will take us away from God. I Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some *have strayed from the faith* in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Another important symptom of a person becoming a false prophet and teacher is when that person is unwilling to be part of God's fellowship of people, but instead wants to start an independent church/fellowship/group. I John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; *for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest*, that none of them were of us.
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