When we’re sitting in our studies with a desperate, beloved child of God, too often the first words that come to our minds have a taproot in our flesh. Instead of drawing up fresh gospel water to soothe parched throats, we offer shots of the burning liquor of the law: “Do better. Try harder. Buckle down. White-knuckle it. Suck it up. Get to work.”
When I was a kid, nothing drove me crazier than rules inconsistently applied. When my older cousins got away with things that would have gotten me in a mountain of trouble, or when my siblings got access to privileges that I didn’t, it frustrated me to no end. I had what we might call a “strong sense of justice” (read: I was the fairness police). Now, while that instinct might have been a bit, say, keenly attuned, there was some reality to what I was feeling. It is tough to be a kid in a world where the rules seem to arbitrarily change.
Pastor, unless we are careful, we can do the same to the precious flock with which God has entrusted us.
Here’s what I mean.
The funny (or, not so funny) thing about human nature is that we’re deeply inconsistent. I need look no further than me to realize this. I speak from the pulpit about the need for holiness, and no later than that afternoon, I’ve fallen into sin. I disciple young believers in the importance of a daily regimen of scripture and go to bed that night with my Bible uncracked. I talk a good game about the importance of gospel-centeredness, but far too often, I’m a law-mind.
It’s that last one that can set us up to deeply injure members of our flock. When we’re preparing a sermon, we have the chance to sift our thoughts and curate our words. This allows us to ensure that what we preach has the gospel as its unshakeable core.
But when we’re sitting in our studies with a desperate, beloved child of God, too often the first words that come to our minds have a taproot in our flesh. Instead of drawing up fresh gospel water to soothe parched throats, we offer shots of the burning liquor of the law: “Do better. Try harder. Buckle down. White-knuckle it. Suck it up. Get to work.”
We ask our people to knock back four or six of these great tips to beat anxiety, sin, grief, financial worries, or marital struggles and send them on their way, staggering drunk on the homemade moonshine of get-your-act-together. We ask exasperated questions like, “Why do you still feel this way?” “How is it that you’re still struggling with this?” “What am I going to have to do to help you finally get past this?” Too often, we cram law-shaped words into gospel-shaped holes.
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Today we can find nearly any truthful propositional statement from God’s Word being challenged. If you have a favorite verse or text in scripture, the Evil one is actively trying to distort that same text. The remedy in this world of disinformation, distortion, and disdain is to cling closely to the Word of God and the faithful teaching of God’s Word. 

New Testament and False Teaching
In nearly every New Testament epistle, regardless of their human authors, there is a common theme of vigilance and discernment. Vigilance among believers to discern the truth of teaching and the practice of faith within daily living. Last summer I preached on a very “little big book” from Jude that highlighted some of the early churches’ struggles, and the similar struggles we share today in contending for the Faith of Christ. The need for vigilance and discernment expressed through the Scripture was applicable in the first-century church.  The problems, temptations, dangers, and sins which so easily ensnare, are also present today.
In 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul engages in some hyperbole and rhetorically engages with the false accusations about him from the false teachers in Corinth. He starts off by saying that this entire method of controversy is foolishness. Then, with no shortage of sarcasm, the Apostle Paul apologizes for engaging in such foolishness and dives in headlong from 2 Corinthians 11:1-12:13 into an argument riddled with “foolishness”. He systematically takes on the accusations laid about himself and the tidings of Jesus he brought to the Corinthian church.
For a moment, he states clearly that the false teachers in Corinth are striking at the vitals of the Corinthian’s belief in Jesus. These teachers and their teaching are not simply people who have gotten a few details wrong and are in need of correction. This brings me to the namesake of this piece – the hallmark of false teaching. While there could be a great many marks of false teaching and a great many characteristics of false teachers – there is a single undeniable result of false teaching.
First Warnings in Old Testament
In order to take a look at some of the first warnings of false teachers, we’re going to need to start at Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:15-22.
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
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