Some things are true and some aren’t

Steve Brown:
Some things are true and some aren’t. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown. He doesn’t want to be your guru and he’s not trying to be your mother. He just opens the Bible and gives you the simple truth that will make you free. Steve’s a lifelong broadcaster, author, seminary professor and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at Paul’s teaching on false teaching. It’s in the first 12 verses of the fifth chapter of Galatians, which we’re studying. And we have seen first in Galatians 5:7-8.

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

So, where does it come from? It comes from the other side, from the dark side, it has evil attached to it. It can kill you. It’s important truth. And if you don’t get that right, then you get everything else wrong. And I don’t want to. I don’t want to start on a rant on this, but we, we live in a country right now, where truth is in short supply. Not only is truth in short supply. The understanding that there is truth is in short supply. Truth is whatever you want it to be. Whatever makes you feel good, whatever is accepted by the people that you like. No, it’s not. Let me tell you something, I don’t care what they tell you, when they’re talking about sexuality, when they’re talking about the gender, when they’re talking about lying, when they’re talking about love and hate, when they’re talking about what’s right and what’s wrong, there is absolute truth. And that comes from Scripture. When I, one time I was at a large ecclesiastical meeting and a professor, seminary professor, was speaking before this, this was in New England and it’s years ago. And it was a denominational gathering. The denomination of which I was then apart was a little bit, no a lot off. And I was just beginning to learn the truth and it was beginning to change my life and also mess up my life. And so I was learning things that I hadn’t learned before and was being blown away with the truth. I remember standing in the pulpit during those days. And staying one verse of head of the congregation. I didn’t, I didn’t know what the Bible said, but I had been called by God to teach it. And by God’s grace, I was going to do that, even if I didn’t know what it said. So I’d read a verse and I’d tell him what I thought it meant. And I’d read another verse and I’d tell him what I thought it meant. And you know what happened? An awakening happened in that church. I mean, it exploded. I haven’t seen that ever in my ministry subsequent to that time, it was just, God said, stick to the truth and I’ll do my thing. And he did, we saw people coming to Christ. We saw a missionary movement in the church. We had a missions conference, never had one before. We, the church was packed out. I mean, God was doing something that was, and it was as much a surprise to me as it was to anybody else. But at any rate, during that time, I was at this large denominational meeting and this professor was quoting Scripture and misusing it. He was making it say just the opposite of what it plainly said. Now I’m not one to never say anything. And half of what I say is stupid and I just don’t know which half, but I’m quite opinionated. And I do say what I think. So, and I wasn’t, I mean, I was nervous. I didn’t want to do it, but I stood up and I said, sir, you have a right to your views, even if they are naive and wrong. But please don’t try to make Jesus share your views, He doesn’t. And then, and he was starting to intimidate me and that happens sometimes, he sneered and he said, Oh yes. Well tell me where Jesus, disagrees with me. And I did, because it was fresh on my mind, I started quoting Jesus. And for five or 10 minutes, I quoted verse after verse after verse after verse, when I finished, he said, well, you may have a point. When it was over a brother that I had respected, came up to me and said, Steve, you just didn’t hear the master’s voice? Did you? In the, we’ve already been to this text when we started to Galatians, but in Galatians 1:8-9, Paul repeated twice.

If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

Now that’s pretty strong and it’s pretty strong, because false teaching is pretty dangerous. You see, we have a standard of truth. The Canon of Scripture, the measurement of truth and a false teacher is one who teaches something other than what is there. In my first church, I took up fishing. Didn’t catch much. In fact, nobody wanted to go fishing with me, because they got skunked every time they did. So I gave it up, but I caught a pickerel one time, in this lake. And I loved to go up there by myself, because there were no phones and nobody knew I was there. And people knew that I wouldn’t be a very good fisherman, so they didn’t look for me there. But I caught this pickerel and I was so proud of myself, I brought it home and I have a friend who said, you know, I think you broke the law. That’s too small to take from that lake. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, let me show you. And he got a measurement, that my wife brought to him and measured it, and it was five inches too short. And my wife who takes a picture of everything we’ve done for the last 60 years, my wife took a picture of that and we still have it and I can’t get away from it. I broke the law and how do I know I broke the law, because it was measured. And it was there and there for everybody to see. Well, it’s the same thing that Paul’s talking about here. There’s a Canon, there’s a measurement of truth. And again, remember, I’m talking about the eternal verities of the faith, not the details about which Christians can disagree. I’m talking about the Apostle’s Creed or the great Creeds of the church. That’s a measurement. This Scripture is a measurement, of what’s true and what’s not true. And we’ve been given that measuring rod and we need, we need to stick to it. And when it contradicts us, we need to change. And so the source of false teaching is from the dark side. Satan knows that if you want to get God’s people, you want to destroy what God is doing in the world, you want to devastate a church, bring in stuff, that’s not true, false teaching. And I’ll tell you something. He’ll use 99% of the truth to float one lie, somebody has said, and it’s true. Well, I’ve gotta keep moving. The second thing I want you to note about what Paul says about false teaching, is not only the source of false teaching, but note the substance of false teaching. Now, there are three areas of substance to which Paul refers in this text. Let’s look at them. The first area of substance, Paul says that the false teachers taught that you could add something to the salvation offered as a free gift by Christ, Galatians 5:2.

Now: I, Paul say to you that if you receive circumcision,

In other words, if you’re adding to it.

Christ will be of no advantage to you.

Now we discussed that before, can’t add anything to the salvation that you have. You either are, or you aren’t. The false teachers were asking the believers in Galatia to do something that was beyond what was needed. The Westminster Confession of Faith says this.

Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his Holy Word, and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal upon any pretense or good intention.

And the Westminster Confession is very clear that salvation is by Christ alone, by grace alone, by faith alone. And so the substance of what the false teachers were teaching had to do with salvation. And Paul said, that’s going to kill you. You’re saved by grace, by faith, by Christ alone. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown, continuing to teach us, warn us really about the dangers of false teachers. I think it could be argued that we need this truth now more than ever. More from Galatians on tap for tomorrow, make sure you join us. Well, believe it or not, Easter is less than a month away. And while we know the story of Easter, that familiarity can sometimes blind us to some big questions that Easter brings up, like, why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t there have been another way? If Jesus had lived to a ripe old age wouldn’t he have had time to teach us more? Well, Steve has addressed those very questions in a sermon called Why Jesus Had to Die. We’d love to send you that sermon on a CD for free. So get it right now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also drop an email to [email protected] and ask for that CD. By mail send your request to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

If you’re in Canada, mail us at

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Just ask for the free CD called Why Jesus Had to Die. Well, Key Life is all about sharing the message of God’s radical grace, and you can help us with that mission by supporting us financially. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or make it easy, just grab your phone and text Key Life to 28950. Just follow the instructions, and in less time than it takes to write a check, you’ll be all set up. Again, text Key Life, one word, two words, does it matter to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we’re a listener supported production of Key Life Network.