If someone says to us: “Our church has the truth, so just listen to us. You don’t need to listen other churches or organisations.”  What should our attitude be?  Should we look to some man, whether dead or alive, as our spiritual teacher?  Should we look to some organisation as our spiritual teacher?  Does God want us to relax and be spoon fed?  Or does God want us to use our minds and test and prove what we hear?

What is the source of Truth?

Where does truth come from?  Does it come from books or booklets?  Does it come from preachers?  Does truth come from a church?  Anyone of these things may contain truth, but they are not the source of truth. 

The source of truth is the Bible, which is of course the word of God.  In the book of John, Jesus Christ said when He was praying to His heavenly Father, that God’s word is truth. 

Joh 17:17 Your word is truth. 

And Paul when instructing Timothy wrote:

2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. 

So, the source of truth is the Bible.

How should we read and listen?

What does God want us to do when we read a religious book, booklet, or magazine, or listen to a preacher?  Does God want us to just accept what we read or hear without thinking about it?  Let’s look at a passage in the book of Acts which informs us.

Act 17:10  Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
Act 17:11  These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Act 17:12  Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

The Bereans are commended because they didn’t just accept what they were taught.  They searched into the Scriptures to see if what they were taught was true.  They went to the source of truth, the Holy Scriptures, to test what they were taught.

In 1 Thes 5:21, Paul admonished the brethren to “test all things”, or to “prove all things”. 

1Th 5:21  Test all things; hold fast what is good.

But why should we test all things?  The apostle John gave the answer to that in 1 John 4:1.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

There are many false teachers in the world.  The apostle Paul warned us in Acts.

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

We must test all things because that is how we know if someone is a savage wolf or drawing a following for himself for selfish reasons. 

What do false teachers look like?

What do false teachers look like? Do they appear evil and sinister?  No. Just as Satan appears as a minister of light, so false teachers appear holy and good.

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

False teachings come in respectable looking religious books and in well-spoken and religious sounding preachers. 

How can we recognise false teachers?

How can we recognise false teachers?  Jesus Christ told us that we will know them by their fruits.

Mat 7:15  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Mat 7:16  You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Mat 7:17  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Mat 7:19  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 7:20  Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

But what exactly do good fruits look like?  What should we be looking for?  Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit.  These are what we should be looking for in a true teacher

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

True teachers will also uphold the law of God – they will preach according to the law.

Isa 8:20  To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Who is our teacher?

Who is our teacher?  Is our teacher some man, dead or alive?  Is our teacher some church organisation?  Jesus spoke to the people and his disciples about the scribes and the Pharisees – the religious teachers of His day.

Mat 23:6  They [the scribes and the Pharisees] love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7  greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

“Rabbi”, means “my master”, or “my honourable sir”.  It was an official title of honour.  The scribes and the Pharisees loved the praise of men.

Mat 23:8  But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Mat 23:9  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
Mat 23:10  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

Jesus said it twice to emphasise it.  We have just one teacher, Jesus Christ.  In the book of John, we find something very similar.

Joh 6:44  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD.’ …

How are we taught by God?  When we read a Scripture, the Holy Spirit works with the spirit in us, and opens our mind to understand what we read.  It is God who teaches us through His Spirit.  It’s not some man or some organisation, it is God Himself who teaches us.