1 Th. 5:22
Abstain from Every Form of Evil
Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, focusing on the command to "abstain from every form of evil." He first corrects the common King James misunderstanding of "appearance of evil," arguing the text means to avoid evil in its every manifestation. Martin then details three reasons why false teaching is inherently evil: it diminishes Christ's preeminence, feeds human pride, and caters to depraved lusts. He urges believers to scrupulously avoid such teaching, regardless of its deceptive forms—fair speech, ecclesiastical authority, weighty tradition, scriptural guise, or human wisdom—and concludes by emphasizing that spiritual progress requires both embracing truth and rejecting error.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 8 sections · 50 min
- Introduction: The Interconnectedness of Spiritual Commands 0:02
- Correcting the Misunderstanding of 'Appearance of Evil' 3:00
- Defining 'Abstain from Every Form of Evil' 9:12
- Why False Teaching is Evil: Diminishing Christ 11:57
- Why False Teaching is Evil: Feeding Human Pride 18:34
- Why False Teaching is Evil: Feeding Depraved Lusts 22:12
- Scrupulously Avoiding Evil in All Its Deceptive Forms 26:36
- The Necessity of Both Positive and Negative Spiritual Growth 44:52
Key Quotes
“But now he concludes this series of thoughts with the command, abstain from every form of evil.”
“A much better translation would be, abstain from evil in its every form.”
“Number one, all false teaching is evil in its very nature.”
“anything that gives Christ a lesser place is evil. Therefore he says avoid evil in its every form particularly evil teaching false teaching that does not stand the test.”
“false teaching is evil not only because it gives a lesser place to Christ but it gives a greater place to man and feeds human pride in terms of merit or in terms of wisdom”
“See the two marks of their false teaching it gave loopholes to the flesh and it lowered Christ in the eyes of men that's always the mark of false teaching now that's wicked and evil why?”
“if you're too lazy to prove all things you deserve to be led astray if your soul in the honor of God is not of more value than to put things to the test and see not only if they are true to a text of scripture in isolation but to that immediate context of the verse and to the broader teaching of the word of God if you're too lazy then you deserve to be led down the path you deserve to be led down the path”
“no true progress is made in the spiritual life without this positive negative ability to hold to the good and reject the evil”
Applications
Parents & families
- Young people, don't believe teachers who contradict the Bible, even if they speak authoritatively; remember that whenever they contradict the Bible, they are spilling out their ignorance.
- Don't be brainwashed by the sentimentals of human wisdom, especially in college; man is what God says he is, and true understanding comes from God's Word.
All listeners
- Cultivate a genuine appreciation for the pronouncement of divine truth, but don't be gullible; put everything to the test.
- Once convinced of truth, hold fast to it, seize upon it, assimilate it, and allow it to work out its implications in life and experience.
- Embrace divine truth and heavenly medicine, even if it hurts going down or jars natural senses, but reject anything that doesn't pass the test of apostolic doctrine, no matter how attractive its presentation.
- Scrupulously avoid and reject evil false teaching regardless of the form in which it comes; total abstinence is the only safe course.
- Don't be impressed by fair speech; be more concerned with the substance of what's preached than the form of its delivery.
- Bring the substance of what a preacher says to the bar of God's truth, not just their preaching gifts.
- Don't be impressed by ecclesiastical authority; beware of teaching that contradicts God's Word, regardless of the speaker's credentials.
- Avoid evil even when it comes in the form of a weighty religious tradition; tradition means nothing unless it is an expression of people walking in the light of the Word of God.
- Get dead in earnest about proving all things; if you are too lazy to test truth against the total spectrum of God's Word, you deserve to be led astray.
- Don't flirt with false teaching or expose your mind to false teachers unless absolutely necessary; if called to ministry, do not sit at the feet of men who reject the truth.
- Be a balanced Christian, holding fast to the good and avoiding every form of evil; don't just reject the counterfeit, but accumulate the genuine.
- Be careful who you share your spiritual problems with and who you take advice from; ensure they are steeped in the Word and knowledge of human beings.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 75 paragraphs, roughly 50 minutes.
Introduction: The Interconnectedness of Spiritual Commands
Turn with me in your own Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, conscious that light glaring in somebody's eyes might be a distraction, so that's why I turned that off. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, in a day when the religious market is glutted with all kinds of currency, you and I do well to pay close attention to the words of the Apostle in this section that we are presently studying, this section filled with these brief little statements coming to us in the imperative, that is, as commands, to prove all things, to hold fast that which is good, to abstain from every form of evil, and if we take any one of these without any of these, without any of these, without any of these, without any of these, without any of the other, we'll end up terribly imbalanced, possibly spiritually impoverished, and without exception, terribly endangered. If we simply take the first principle, despise not prophesying, and we say, yes, I love pronouncements
of truth, and anything that comes in the name of divine truth, I'll receive it, we'll be in a terrible mess, an awful lot of currency floating about with truth stamped on it. Well, if we react against that and say, that's right, you've got to prove everything, and we go around suspicious of everything that comes in the name of truth, why, we're likely to learn little, because we never take the position of a disciple, but always that of a critic and a judge. So you see, it's necessary to take these all together, despise not prophesying, cultivate a genuine appreciation for the pronouncement of divine truth, but don't be gullible, put everything to the test. But that's not enough.
If you just go around testing, testing, testing all the time, you're like a man who's careful to analyze every bit of food put in front of him, he'll starve to death unless he eats some of it. So he says, don't just test it, hold fast that which is good. Once you're convinced it's real currency, don't leave it sitting on the mantle, put it in the bank where it's safe, lay hold of it, possess it, as we saw last week. This command means that we are to seize upon the truth, assimilate it to ourselves.
Allow it to work out its implications in life and in experience. Constantly bring it to mind, hold fast to the truth. But now he concludes this series of thoughts with the command, abstain from every form of evil. Now I have to do a terrible thing at the outset this morning.
Correcting the Misunderstanding of 'Appearance of Evil'
I first of all have to destroy the common misunderstanding of this text. Now the misunderstanding is rooted in a very poor translation in the King James Bible. The misunderstanding is rooted in a very poor translation in the King James Bible. The misunderstanding is rooted in a very poor translation in the King James Bible.
Which says, abstain or, yes, abstain from all appearance of evil.
And the common misunderstanding of the text is this. You are to avoid anything that will look like sin in the eyes of others. If you're making a hassock, as my mother used to do, out of old discarded cans, and she would tie them together and then she'd put some sisal, you know, that looks like shredded wood. On the top and sides, and then cover it with imitation leather.
She used to make these lovely hassocks. When they began to get beat up by us kids, you could hear the cans clunking. But if you happen to want to make a hassock, by all means, if you happen to see a case of empty beer cans, don't pick them up and put them in your car, because if someone sees them there, that will have the appearance of evil, and they might think you emptied those beer cans yourself. So to avoid all appearance of evil, don't pick up the empty beer cans, make sure they're tomato juice cans.
Or something else. And so the general understanding of the text has been, you must studiously avoid doing anything that will have the connotation of evil to others. Now that is not what the text is saying. In fact, God nowhere tells us to do that which some people have made that text to say.
God does tell us to flee from sin, flee fornication, flee youthful lust. He does tell us that in the context of the...
In the society of God's people, we are to give no unnecessary occasions of stumbling to our brother. But to make this text mean that we are never to do anything that might appear evil to others is a wrong interpretation on several accounts. Number one, the language of the text does not say that. A much better translation would be, abstain from evil in its every form.
Or... Or, as we have it in the American Standard, abstain from every form of evil.
The second reason why this other interpretation cannot be right is this. To take that interpretation is to fail to recognize that there's nothing so good but what it will appear evil to evil men. I quote now from a commentator, to the evil all things seem evil and you cannot help that. Where was there ever a...
A virtue that did not seem a vice to a man's enemy? Let a Christian be liberal and his enemy will say, phew, look at that wasteful fellow. I know that's happened right in this assembly when we had our building fund drive to raise the money. I shouldn't say building fund drive, we just said here's our need, let's pray and do what the Lord tells us.
Well, some individuals did some things with their money and people, loved ones, friends said, well that's foolish, give away a thousand dollars, that's being wasteful. So, the grace of Christian liberality...
...looks like wastefulness.
On the other hand, let a Christian be frugal and they say, phew, look at that stingy old Christian. Tightwad, won't spend his money to buy this and this and this that they happen to be buying, you see. On the other hand, you let someone give himself to true sobriety, taking seriously the issues of life, you won't laugh and snicker at borderline jokes and they say, look, that old Puritanism makes long-faced people. Let a man express the joy of the Lord and they say, phew, look at that.
He's so light and careless and he claims to be a Christian. He's all the time laughing and smiling. And you can carry this through in every realm. There is no virtue but what will appear evil in the eyes of a man's enemy.
Let John the Baptist live the life of an ascetic and they say, look, he's got a demon. Look at that crazy nut, the way he dresses. And did you ever see him eat? He sits there picking the legs off locusts and popping them in one by one.
And that one that he talked about, Jesus, let's have nothing to do... Look at the crowd he hangs around with.
And he sits and eats and drinks with them. You see, in the life of the servants of Christ, in the eyes of their enemies, their virtues were vices. And this will be true right to the present hour. So this cannot be the meaning of the text.
First of all, the words don't warrant it. Secondly, it would be commanding something that is utterly impossible. As long as the saints of God live in a hostile environment, their good many times will be interpreted as evil. And the third reason is this.
To live by this kind of a rule is the surest way to make a hypocrite out of a man.
The attempt to gain the favorable verdict of all men is not only impracticable, but it's demoralizing. It will occupy a man with appearances and not with realities. And that's the quickest way to make a hypocrite out of a man. To get him always concerned.
How does this look to others rather than what is this thing that I'm doing or thinking? How is this action? How is this being regarded in the sight of God? Now I am not making an effort to be novel.
Some preachers feel unless they're novel and can say something different about a text that they ought not to preach upon. That is not my attempt at all. Nor am I hurting anything by taking away this text from you in that setting. There is no truth of scripture that suffers, no real truth, if you say it's not taught in this verse.
If it's a valid truth, it's taught elsewhere. Well then, if that's not what the text means… doing that which will look evil in the eyes of people about you, what does the text say? Well, as I've already hinted, the proper translation would be abstain from evil in its every form. The word abstain, very obvious what it means to us.
Defining 'Abstain from Every Form of Evil'
It's very obvious to us what it means. Don't be a partaker of something. In Acts 15.20, the decree went out from the council of Jerusalem that men and women in the churches were to abstain from fornication.
They were not to be partakers in fornication and these other things listed. In 1 Timothy 4.3, Paul speaks of the latter days being marked by people teaching doctrines contrary to Scripture and one of them will be abstain, is commanding to abstain from meats. Commanding to abstain from marriage.
1 Peter 2.11, abstain from fleshly lust. Here's the setting of the word, the meaning, is obvious. Hold yourself aloof from something.
Now, what are we to hold ourselves aloof from? Not the appearance of evil, but every form of evil. And this is the word used when it's said of the Holy Spirit that He descended in the bodily form as a dove upon the Lord Jesus. Luke 3.22.
He descended in bodily form. John 5.22, we read, No man hath seen His form, the form, of God. Now the command comes to us, abstain from evil in every form.
Now put that command in its context and what do you have? I believe, though there are many places I don't agree with the translation, that the New English Bible has caught the sense of the text. I quote now the verses surrounding and this verse as found in the New English Bible. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but bring them all to the test.
Then, keep what is good in them and avoid the bad of whatever kind. Now, putting that text in its context, do you see what it's saying? It has to do primarily with this whole issue of the Christian and his response to and his reaction to something that comes to him as a prophetic utterance. Something that comes to him as a word from God.
He is not to despise it, but he's not to be gullible. He's to put it to the test. Having put it to the test, he's to take the good and cling to it. He's to look at the evil and he's to utterly refuse it.
Hold fast the good. Abstain from the evil, particularly evil in the sense of teaching that does not pass the test of the proving. Now, so much for the misunderstanding of the text. The true meaning of the text is, now we come to the core of the message this morning, what are the clear implications of this text?
Why False Teaching is Evil: Diminishing Christ
And I want to give you three. Number one, all false teaching is evil in its very nature.
The very word Paul uses for abstain from every form of evil is the word that is used in some instances to describe the devil. He is called the evil one. And that is the word apostolic doctrine. That teaching which will not stand the test of the inspired apostolic doctrine is evil no matter how beautiful a form in which it appears before us.
And so the apostle is telling us prove everything, hold fast to the good, not what you say is good, but what passes the test of apostolic doctrine, that's good, even though it may hurt going down, even though it may jar your natural, natural senses, it's good, it's divine truth, it's heavenly medicine, embrace it, eat it, assimilate it, but anything that doesn't, no matter how beautiful a goblet in which it may come, no matter how attractive a casket in which it may be set, it is evil. Reject it. Refuse it. All false teaching is evil.
Now I got meditating on this and I asked myself the question, why is false teaching evil?
And I believe there are at least three characters of all false teaching that come to us in the name of truth. And this is what makes false teaching evil. Number one, false teaching, spurious prophecy, will always give a lesser place to Jesus Christ than God the Father has given to him. Now listen carefully.
False teaching will always give a lesser place to Jesus Christ than that, which the Father has given him and that's what makes it evil. For the place that the Father has given him, described in passages, excuse me, like Philippians 2, God hath highly exalted him, given him a name above every name. Colossians chapter 1, it pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell, that in everything he should have the preeminence. God has constituted the whole scheme of redemption in such a way that Jesus, Jesus Christ in the glory of his person and in the sufficiency of his work will occupy the central place in the thinking, the life, the worship, the testimony of the church of Christ. False teaching will always obscure the centrality of Christ. It will put something else in the forefront. Some kind of ordinance, some form of worship, some peculiarity of the total, life and ministry of the church, but wherever the truth, true prophetic utterance is found, Jesus Christ will be found in the place that God has assigned to him.
That is why when we're to test the spirits, the test always focuses on the issue of Christ. Look at two passages of scripture that state this so clearly. First Corinthians chapter 12. These Corinthians in their heathen temple worship knew what it was to see the temple priests carried off in these religious ecstasies when they would make prophetic utterances.
When they would sometimes even babble and be carried out of themselves.
And so he says in first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 2 Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols howsoever ye might be led. You see you gave yourselves over to this worship and you were led by some other spirit other than the Holy Spirit. Wherefore I make known to you that no man speaking in the spirit of God saith Jesus is anathema and no man can say Jesus is Lord but in the Holy Spirit. You see when a man is activated by some other spirit other than the Holy Spirit and he's giving some utterance so supposedly a prophetic utterance if that demeans Christ that's not the Holy Ghost. For it's the Holy Ghost who constantly gives testimony to Jesus Christ as Lord that is Christ in the place of his majesty Christ in the place of his glory Christ in the place of his authority Christ in his place of central rule over heaven and earth.
Therefore false teaching is evil because it will always try to drag him from that place. God has set him preeminent in the universe in the uniqueness of his person in the sufficiency of his work on the cross and at the right hand of the Father. False teaching will always do something either to drag him off his throne to minimize his cross to minimize his work as a high priest in the presence of the Father. It will always do something to smack at the uniqueness of his person drag him from his throne somehow cast dispersions on the sufficiency of his work or somehow obscure the centrality of his work.
It is glory in the midst of the church. Christ should be the lodestone the magnet of God's people in his church. False teaching will always put something alongside of Christ or in the place of Christ. It will put program it will put promotion it will put something else some other magnet it will try to bait people with program it will try to bait people with promises of success it will try to bait people with everything under the sun whereas the truth of the church says we are nothing but a group of hell deserving sinners but Jesus is pleased to make himself known in our midst.
Come and see.
See? Now why is false teaching evil? It's evil because of this constant tendency to give a lesser place to Christ than God has given to him and anything that gives Christ a lesser place is evil. Therefore he says avoid evil in its every form particularly evil teaching false teaching that does not stand the test.
Why False Teaching is Evil: Feeding Human Pride
Secondly here's the second reason why false teaching is evil in its very nature it will always feed human pride. Just as the whole end of redemption with reference to Christ is to magnify and exalt him the whole end of redemption with reference to man is to humble him in the dust. Chapter and verse alright 1 Corinthians 1 30 and 31 the most beautiful statement in short compass that I know in all of scripture he has been speaking of God's gracious work in calling these Corinthians bypassing the wise and the prudent and coming to the things that are not. Why has God advanced such a unique way of building his church out of the rubble of the earth? Why doesn't he take many wise many noble many rich many mighty he can save a mighty man as well as the poor man. Why?
Well he has a purpose. Here it is. Verse 28 And he's taken the base things of the world and the things that are despised that God choose and the things that are not that he might bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory before God but of him are ye in Christ Jesus who was made unto us wisdom from God righteousness sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. If a man says I have wisdom someone says where did you get it?
Christ. I have righteousness where did you get it? Christ. I have sanctification where did you get it?
Christ. I have redemption where did you get it? Christ. He says what's the matter with you?
Don't you have anything? He says no. All I brought to the whole shooting match was my filth and my corruption and anything I have that's worth anything he gave it to me.
Truth always exalts Christ and the base is mad not to a dog or to an animal he's still a creature in the image of God and in that sense he's highest in his lowest point and the highest of the beast but in terms of redemptive privileges he's a base in the dust and he's a base and he glories in Christ and Christ alone. Now mark me listen carefully use this in your seeking to evaluate things false teaching will always have a different tendency it will feed human pride in two ways generally it will play up human merit righteousness oh yes I've got it by Christ plus something else and it will always play up human wisdom I know something from the Bible plus human wisdom science philosophy no no he is made unto us wisdom period he is made unto us righteousness period false teaching is evil not only because it gives a lesser place to Christ but it gives a greater place to man and feeds human pride in terms of merit or in terms of wisdom and anything that works counter to God in his dealings with men is evil he's seeking to abase us that Christ may be all both in wisdom and in righteousness
Why False Teaching is Evil: Feeding Depraved Lusts
false teaching says you've got something to add to it and then thirdly false teaching will always feed depraved lust and the natural tendencies of the flesh just as the whole end of redemption from God's perspective is to magnify Christ with reference to man to humble him in its outwork in its whole goal is to make man like God that is holy why did Christ die thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy he gave himself for us we read in Titus chapter 2 to what end the grace of God has appeared teaching us the denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly righteously godly in this present day looking for hastening unto that coming of our great God and our Savior who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself the peculiar people zealous of good works Paul gives it in one little phrase he says the truth which is according to godliness now mark mark this all true prophetic utterance everything that stands the test will not only have that tendency to exalt Christ to abase man
but to push man on and help him on in the pursuit of sanctification and holiness false teaching will drag Christ down a few pegs push man up a few pegs and will give a few loopholes for his flesh always I wish I had time to trace this out all kinds of examples I've got them in my notes and maybe they'll have to wait for another separate message because I don't want to get a field of our text here this morning but just one text that pulls these things together you find this in Jude chapter 4 speaking of false teachers this is how Jude describes them for there are certain men of old certain men crept in privily even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of God into an excuse for sin turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying our only master and Lord Jesus Christ see the two marks of their false teaching it gave loopholes to the flesh and it lowered Christ in the eyes of men that's always the mark of false teaching now that's wicked and evil why? because the whole end of God in redemption the end for which he gave his truth is to make a people holy false teaching works against that and it says no you can have the blessings of grace
without the demands of grace there's no there's nothing that is more incisive in its indictment on the whole carnal Christian teaching in our day the Savior Lord division of Christ the thing that says you can believe without repenting we need nothing more to know that that's false teaching than to see what its direct tendency is to do it's to undercut the whole necessity of following after holiness how can it be true if it fights against the very purpose for which the Son of God was manifested namely to make a people holy now all false teaching is evil why? I've given you three reasons a lesser place to Christ feeds human pride and always feeds depraved lust by contrast the truth always exalts him in the uniqueness of his person the sufficiency of his work here on earth there in heaven and it always has as its goal the sanctification of the believer that's the first principle then that we see in the text the implication all false teaching is evil second great principle is such false teaching is to be scrupulously avoided and rejected regardless of the form in which it comes no man should become a moderate partaker of deadly poison
Scrupulously Avoiding Evil in All Its Deceptive Forms
total abstinence is the only safe course even if the poison comes in silver flasks in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the form of a poison in the hand of a man whose words ooze and drip with love in a context of a society of people who seem to be models of love and gentleness all of that doesn't neutralize what's in the flask it's poison and if you take it it'll kill you now that's what Paul is saying here prove all things hold fast to the good avoid every form of evil it's evil that teaching that doesn't stand the test and no matter what form it comes to you reject it your life your eternal well-being depends upon it so I see this is the second implication of the text not an implication it's the it's the clear enunciation of the very principle scrupulously avoid and reject evil false teaching regardless of the form in which it comes now what makes this so difficult is that most of the time false teaching comes in a deceptive form isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew 7 Matthew 7 15 he said beware of the wolves that come to you with fangs dripping in eyes full of carnivorous desire no no he said beware of those wolves that come unto you in what
sheep's clothing that's what makes it so dangerous that's what makes it so dangerous you see a wolf with flesh in his eyes his fangs dripping you're going to get you're going to get where he is you ain't but an innocent little lamb wouldn't hurt anything you want to cuddle up to it God says abstain from evil in every in every form specifically don't be impressed by the fair speech with which the false teaching may be in couched or in which it may be couched with which it may be presented for we read in Romans 16 18 these very sermons searching words concerning the deceptiveness of fair speech Romans 16 18 for they that are such serve not our Lord Christ but their own belly and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent you see here were people far more interested in how the supposed truth came to them the form of the prophecy rather than the substance you see it why do I labor at seeking to make you a discerning people in hearing for this very reason if you're not more concerned with the substance of what's preached
than the form of it you're going to be led down the path frankly I'm a bit disturbed when sometimes we have preachers come to whom God has not given strong gifts of pulpit delivery and some of you tune them out shame on you if you only listen to what's preached because God has endowed your pastor with preaching gifts you're right to be led down the road by a heretic because there are smooth speaking false prophets dig beneath the shell of the form in which the preaching comes constantly say what is he saying not how what move everything that doesn't mean bring his gifts of preaching to the bar of your idea of what a good preacher is bring the substance of what he says to the bar of your preaching truth you see it don't be deceived by fair speech I tell you the gift of gab is a dangerous thing it's wonderful when God lays hold of a man's tongue and gives it utterance to his truth but I wonder sometimes if this isn't maybe why places like where Spurgeon preached seem so quickly to go down the road into liberalism
could it be I never thought of that but right now on my feet I wonder some of the places where some of the most eloquent men preached seem so quickly to follow down the road to apostasy could it be that people got so accustomed to fair speech that they lost their ability to think of substance instead of form could that be avoid evil in its every form don't be deceived by fair speech secondly don't be impressed by ecclesiastical authority or if somebody stands up and got a turned collar and a doctor's name well we just gotta listen to him who says you do? Jesus said in Matthew 16 in verse 6 to a bunch of what a bunch they were you know what his disciples were one of them old tax collector another one old cussing fisherman converted so he didn't cuss anymore but that's what he used to be just calming people just some of the riffraff of his day and now he says to these people with no ecclesiastical standing no ecclesiastical authority these words that would have staggered anyone who heard them in that day Matthew 16 in verse 6 and Jesus said unto them take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and what was the leaven? he tells us in verse 11 and 12 it's the teaching
of the Pharisees and Sadducees in our Lord's day when a Pharisee walked by everyone was almost overpowered with awe here is a great doctor of the law a separated one the epitome of ecclesiastical knowledge and authority who are willing to do this who are willing to do this who are willing to question them Jesus said to a fisherman tax collector and another group of the rabble he said don't listen to them simply because of who they are beware of their teaching don't be impressed with ecclesiastical authority I don't think this is the problem of too many of you it may be of some of you false teachings to be scrupulously avoided whether it comes in fair speech whether it comes by great ecclesiastical authority I refuse to call these fellows with 23 doctors degrees theologians when they depart from an implicit trust in the authority of this book they're not theologians they're religious quacks they're not theologians and I'm sickened when I see religious periodicals parading them as great experts and giving little captions on their degree here degree there degree there when it's obvious they don't believe this book I couldn't care less if they departed from this book my little four year old daughter knows more than they do when it comes to truth and heaven and hell if she knows a few verses of the bible and believes them when you say that's impudent no that's spiritually safe avoid evil in its every form the form of swelling words
the form of ecclesiastical authority now listen carefully thirdly avoid it when it comes in the form of a weighty religious tradition this holds weight with some of us well how could so many people be wrong our lord had that problem in his day he says you pharisees he says you're all the time trampling underfoot the word of god on your way to walk in the path of the tradition of your father you make void the word of god because of your tradition he said tradition means nothing unless it is an expression of a people walking in the light of the word I have great appreciation for church history and I'm not sympathetic to people who don't who act like god never did anything till our day no god's been at work and in that sense we should love the tradition of the true people of god as they've sought to obey the word in the coming years and years to come context of their own situation in that day but we're not impressed by any accumulated tradition if it's violation of the word of god avoid evil in its every form even when it comes with weighty tradition how often i've had people say to me oh wait a minute you mean dr so-and-so could be wrong dr so-and-so and dr i don't care about dr hooty poot does the word say does god say except you repent you'll perish yes then if you seek to be saved without repentance i don't care
1500 doctors say all you need to do is accept jesus as your savior if you don't repent you'll perish i don't care who says you can be saved and not surrender you can be on your way to heaven and not be pressing after holiness god says without holiness no man shall see the lord don't be impressed with a weighty tradition and now we come perhaps to the most subtle warning is in this avoid evil in its every form the form of fair speech the form of ecclesiastical authority the form of a weighty tradition listen carefully the form of the shell of scripture this is when evil in terms of false teaching is most subtle when it comes in the shell of scriptural terminology and scriptural concepts will you turn with me now i don't want to just quote this verse i want you to get it through the eye gate as well the second peter chapter three second peter chapter three beginning with verse 14 wherefore beloved seeing that you look for these things that is the new heavens and the new earth we're not out here kidding ourselves
with this utopian concept of the modern social revolutionaries who want to bring in a millennium of sinful wicked selfish men by the efforts of other sinful wicked selfish men no no we look for the new heaven and the new earth that our god will bring us and we will bring the new heaven and the new earth that our god will constitute at the return of his dear son when the earth and the works therein shall be burned up and there'll be the new heavens and the new earth that's been his theme in this chapter wherefore beloved seeing that you look for these things give diligence this is going to take effort that you may be found in peace without spot and blameless in his sight notice it's a call to holiness and account that the long-suffering of our lord is salvation even as our beloved brother paul also according to the wisdom given to him wrote unto you as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things wherein are some things hard to be understood now notice which the ignorant and unsteadfast rest in that word rest means to put on a rack and to stretch out of shape you don't destroy the substance of something when you rest it you change its proper structure you keep the substance but you change its basic form and its relationship one part to the other they rest they put on the rack and stretch out of shape what?
the words of Paul as they do also the other scriptures to their own destruction ye therefore beloved knowing these things beforehand beware beware lest being carried away with the error of the wicked ye fall from your own steadfastness and how does that error of the wicked come? in its most subtle form it comes under the guise of scripture you say pastor how in the world then can you know? you quote the bible to me somebody else quote how can I know? there's no way to know but to get dead in earnest about proving all things and if you're too lazy to prove all things you deserve to be led astray if your soul in the honor of God is not of more value than to put things to the test and see not only if they are true to a text of scripture in isolation but to that immediate context of the verse and to the broader teaching of the word of God if you're too lazy then you deserve to be led down the path you deserve to be led down the path avoid evil in its every form even when it comes under the shell of scripture you must ask yourself is that scripture in its natural shape or has it been twisted out of shape? oh it's still scripture but it's not scripture in the form in which God gave it Paul said to Timothy
hold fast the form the pattern of sound words don't anyone alter the pattern because when they do here will be the tendency they'll alter it to bring Christ down a little push man up a little and to leave some loopholes for human flesh always always always and when you see them doing that even with the bible you may not be able to give a rational answer but if you're saying God help me to prove all things Jesus said my sheep hear my voice in the voice of a stranger they will not follow and there'll be something in you that'll say I don't know what's wrong with that but something's fishy how many of you ever listened to Herbert Armstrong?
he spits out scripture verses like a machine gun spits bullets yet I've talked with many a humble saint who said I can't answer but something tells me something's not right there's not 16 ounces to the pound some of you had the Jehovah's Witness come to your door and my they'd spit out scripture verses until you were just overpowered and you were just there's something in you you said something's not right I smell something here I smell something I smell something put everything to the test of truth objective the total spectrum of God's truth and then the last thing I'll say under this avoid all false teaching in whatever form fair speech ecclesiastical authority weighty tradition the shell of scripture when it comes with apparent weight of human wisdom you young people listen to your preacher now will you for a minute? will you for a minute? you've been listening all the way through but listen extra carefully you sit in that class and that history teacher says well we know certain things then he proceeds to tell you what they know we know that such and such never happened we know they tell you in that science class we know that the earth is so many billion years of age we know we know we know we know don't believe them they don't know a thing they don't know a thing about what they're talking about if they're contradicting the Bible
isn't it interesting that all the geologists who've done this they answer the jig with the seismograph report on the moon have you heard have you heard about that? I just laughed last night I thought of the verse he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh here they've been saying for years their theories about the moon spinning off from the earth you know and being basically the same stuff and hung out there now when that when that moon craft crashed back into the moon after they got out it in the other and sent it back down they can't understand it it was like delayed action it's like you hit a bell and five minutes later the bell rings the bell gonged and they said the moon may even be hollow and we definitely know now it's made of a different substance than the earth and the geologist said we're having to alter all of our theories and I said he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh they came back with a big discovery why the earth's surface is not made of the same stuff as our soil it's like little bits of glass it looks as though it was made for reflective purposes well isn't that interesting my Bible says he made that for the life of us for the lesser light of the night he didn't make it to grow taters and beans he made it basically to be a reflective light to the earth so he makes it of glass like material well wouldn't you do the same what do they know oh young people listen avoid evil in its every form and when those teachers
seem to talk so authoritatively this is so and that is so you remember whenever they contradict the Bible they're just spilling out their ignorance now don't be disrespectful honor to whom honors do you call him mister and you call her miss or missus and you put on a big smile and you don't make a scene in the class but you go up afterwards and say mister so and so and you have said we know such and such and you flatly contradicted the word of God I want you to know that you don't know what you said you think you may surmise but don't say you know don't be brainwashed by the sentimentals of human wisdom when you get into college and they tell you look man's just the product of his genes and then his environment don't you listen to them we have proven in clinical studies that man is this this this and this no they haven't man is what God says he is he's a creature made in his image he's a creature fallen in Adam and you'll never understand psychology human behavior until you look upon man as a creature made in God's image as a creature fallen in Adam a creature with great potential in Christ you begin to understand human behavior modern psychology misses the boat on issue after issue why? because it won't accept the wisdom of God and the scriptures is after that in its wisdom the world by wisdom knew not God
The Necessity of Both Positive and Negative Spiritual Growth
you'll never know I hope God brings that back to you sometime avoid evil in its every form even when it comes in the form of great weighty scholarship avoid it so what is the implication of our text all false teaching is evil secondly such false teaching is to be scrupulously avoided and rejected at any cost and you understand I hope what that means practically speaking don't flirt with false teaching don't be brave and expose yourself to false teachers any of you young men that God ever lays his hand upon you for the ministry don't tell me God leads you to go and sit at the feet of men who reject the truth you're tempting God to expose your mind to false teaching except where absolutely necessary where absolutely necessary and then I close with the third inference of the text all false teaching evil such false teaching is to be avoided and rejected thirdly no true progress is made in the spiritual life without this positive negative ability to hold to the good and reject the evil no man's healthy who simply breathes in he takes in the good he takes in the good he takes in the good he takes in the good he takes in the good he takes in the good but he's got to give out the bad as old Dr. Tozer said you've got to take in oxygen and exhale the poison and the poor fellow that says well I just want to be wholly positive I want to do nothing but take in oxygen I haven't had a funeral for a while
his will be the next one it'll kill him this is true spiritually hold fast the good take in the oxygen reject the evil exhale the poison now some of us by nature we go to one or the other it's like the man's so concerned that he might take in some bad some bad germs he analyzes all of his food and he makes sure that there's no germs in it well it's not enough you see to exclude the poison all he does is go around finding the foods that are no good but never stops down to eat foods that stops long enough to eat the foods that are good the poor man's going to be as bad off as if he's full of all kinds of bad germs you've got to avoid that which is evil but you've got to assimilate that which is good you see that positive and negative is there and the healthy Christian who's making progress is the one who learns to keep those things in balance no man was ever made a millionaire by simply going around finding counterfeit dollars and rejecting them he had to accumulate some sure enough genuine ones too so God says reject the counterfeit but accumulate the good may the Lord help us in this area nothing's more distasteful than Harrison's snuffers I've met people like that they're just going around all the time biting every single coin that comes in the name of truth and if it's false then they spend all their time biting coins and they're just throwing them away and there isn't the sweet sanctifying power of the truth absorbed and lived out in the life I've met other people that say no I don't want to be like that
so they're all positive and so they'll read any kind of book that comes from any kind of publishing house that seems to be at least semi-religious and they'll listen to any kind of radio program and any kind of preacher and everything's good everything's good if it's got a little flavor of Jesus a little flavor of the Bible no no don't be like that that's why we have a controlled book table and I've had several of you come to me and say pastor there's a book on there I've got some questions about I appreciate that I appreciate that attitude because God says avoid evil in every form even if something comes under a banner of truth title and we feel it doesn't measure up to the book the way a banner of truth is not our God this book is our standard and I appreciate that attitude I want you folk to know that you come to me and say pastor what about this book I haven't read it yet but I appreciate that why? that's a scriptural attitude but now if all we do is go to that book table looking through trying to find something we can take exception with oh there's an awful lot of good food back there you better eat it if you find some bones throw them out if you find some stale meat get rid of it you see here's the principle of the word of God well may the Lord help us as we seek to be balanced Christians holding fast to the good avoiding every form of evil you be careful who you share your spiritual problems with a man's a fool who goes to anybody who claims to be a doctor
I want to know if he's sure enough the real thing before I put my body in his hands you be careful who you take advice from young people you be sure it's someone who's steeped in the word steeped in the knowledge of human beings let's be done with the kind of quackery that puts spiritual need in the hands of immature babes in Christ well all kinds of implications well all kinds of implications but some of you are getting hungry so we better close that's right
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the central text, providing the command to 'prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from every form of evil,' which Martin expounds throughout the sermon.
This passage is expounded to explain why false teaching is evil, specifically because it undermines God's purpose to humble man and exalt Christ alone.
This passage is expounded to illustrate how false teaching can come in the 'shell of scripture' by twisting and distorting biblical texts.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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